


One Last Show

by Celevoir



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akira/Joker seperation, F/M, Forced Nudity, Hang on to your hats and glasses and asses while in this wild ride, I WILL finished this damned thing..., I think I figured out where the Protag's actually from, Igor No Longer Plans on Playing Nice, Imprisionment, Not Beta Read, Other tags to be added later, Post-Game, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Stuck in Hiatus (hopefully only temporary), multiple POVs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-10-27 07:43:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 33,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10804815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celevoir/pseuds/Celevoir
Summary: With the sound of a gunshot, Yaldabaoth's awareness of reality, both fictional and true, slowly began to fade."...so this...is the true Trickster... Damn that Igor... It seems he wasn't spouting nonsense..."As his body began to fade into light along with his mind, one final thought floated through the god entity's remaining mind."...I will have my revenge...Trickster..."Even with most of his head blown away by Satanael's bullet, he could still remember the face of the one whom ultimately defeated him...especially after the removal of the mask the human in question wore...~This story is currently under reconstruction and re-scheming, due to loss of ideas from seizures~





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> If I can help it, I will be doing my best to post at least one chapter a week, and I have 10 total chapters already done. I'm gonna be nice and give the first three off the bat, however.

Even as Yaldabaoth's vision and awareness faded, the being studied the face of his killer with the remnants of His vision, studying it and every detail about it. The task was made much easier by the youth's removal of his mask, so he could see clearly the aspect of defiance.  
  
This defiance he had to destroy, even if His game was supposedly done...  
  
The question...was...how...  
  
Thankfully, not even the arrogant brat that unknowingly wore the mantle of Pride noticed His last move as the golen light He became scattered across the place...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The sun shown brightly on the day Akira planned on going back home. As he walked through Tokyo, he looked up towards the sun, no longer wearing the glasses he had been wearing throughout the last year.  
  
"Yo!" His attention captured by a familiar voice, Akira turned towards it, seeing Ryuji waving at him from a pale-blue vehicle similar to the one Morgana used to turn into within the Metaverse. "You over there!"  
  
"Hey, look this way!" Ann was also waving at him, sitting in the right hand seat in the front. A smile fell upon his face as footsteps approached his general direction.  
  
"After we said we'd disband. My word." The voice prompted Akira to turn towards the source of the new voice with a muted gasp, seeing Yusuke standing behind him then returning his face to that of a smile. Yusuke himself was looking straight ahead towards the others within the familiar vehicle, his own calm smile being worn. Looking back, he saw Makoto besides Ann at the wheel as the pair approached, Ryuji leaning against one side of the opening.  
  
"Sorry about the wierd parking job. The engine just died on us right here." Thumb pointing towards the front, Akira's gaze followed the direction, seeing the hood of the vehicle opened up despite the sight of no one being in it.  
  
"Hey, Morgana, are you done yet," Ann asked, which was when Akira saw the sliver of a white-tipped tail showing itself out of the engine.  
  
"Why the heck am I in charge of the vehicle again," he heard Morgana mumble, sounding as if there was something in his muzzle. Leaning in a little, Akira saw Morgana holding a spark plug in his mouth and a screwdriver in his tail as if it was prehensile.  
  
"And I thought we were done," Yusuke asked in response, sitting down within the vehicle as Akira was allowed to sit in the centermost point.  
  
"It's fine; we're on break," Haru added in addition.  
  
"Exams are done too, right?" Makoto asked, turning away from the wheel to look at everyone. "Come on, why don't you let us drive you home," she added at the end, a statement directed more at Akira than anyone else.  
  
"You really, really gotta go," Futaba whined from a seat behind him before he could answer, prompting him to look back as Ryuji sat beside him, shooting Akira a playful look.  
  
"C'mon man, nobody's forcin' you to leave, y'know." A silent nod from Akira in acknowledgment, Ryuji continued to speak. "Wipin' your slate clean ain't so easy. You see what I mean?" Ryuji glanced back momentarily, to which Akira looked towards the direction being motioned towards and seeing an indiscreet black card nearby. Focusing on the people in the car, Akira could see two people, one of them on a radio while looking towards their direction.  
  
"Things must be slow these days," Yusuke remarked as everyone else looked back.  
  
"Don't mind them," Makoto affirmed before looking forward and getting ready to go. "What they think of us doesn't really matter."  
  
"Yeah, she's right," Ann followed up while looking back at everyone from the front. "We can totally do whatever we want to do." All three boys nodded in unison while Futaba and Haru sounded their agreement to this statement.  
  
Within a few seconds, Morgana hopped in through Ann's window before hopping into Akira's lap, sitting comfortably on him. "The car's fixed! Just had to borrow a plug." The way that statement was made caused Akira to wonder what exactly was meant by 'borrow' as the car began to rev up.  
  
"Nice job! On the first try," Makoto stated loudly.  
  
"Alright, let's roll," Ryuji immediately followed up. Once the car got rolling on, Akira looked back towards the black car that had their eyes on them, seeing them having difficulty starting it up, which confirmed Akira's suspicions about Morgana's earlier use of the word 'borrow'.  
  
"Aaanyways, now that we gotcha, we ain't takin' you straight home." Akira mentally facepalmed at this, feeling like he should have seen that coming, though his facial expression wasn't allowed to show it.  
  
"Hey, can I ask something?" Akira looked up towards Haru at the question. "My friend's in trouble and I'd like everyone's input."  
  
"Ooh, that sounds like fun," Makoto chimed in.  
  
"If this is any more work, count me out," Yusuke was fast to add in.  
  
"You know you want to, Inari," Futaba shot back, which was resulting in Akira successfully holding back another snicker from that nickname.  
  
"I'm getting out."  
  
"Why'd you open the---WE'RE ON THE TOLL ROAD!"  
  
Only in the madness of the trip did Akira manage a moment where he could facepalm without notice, taking full advantage of his jacket to obscure his hand as he quietly giggled into it at everyone else around him...


	2. Still

"Man, she really reamed into you at dinner today," Morgana sympathized while perched on the desk in his room, Akira already face first into his pillow, though not under the covers.  
  
"I can't believe she identified me during the broadcast," Akira managed to say through the pillow before raising his head to look at Morgana, a worn look on his face. "All anyone really got a good look at was the mask."  
  
"I guess mothers know their children better than most," Morgana stated before raising a hindpaw to start cleaning it, his tail twitching for a moment as he found himself suddenly combatting an itchy stop on his right upper-hind leg. "Itchy, itchy." Once Morgana stopped nipping at the itchy spot, he turned to face Akira before hopping onto the bed next to his head. "Now that I think about it, there was enough of your hair to be seen as well as the best view anyone could get of your eyes. Wouldn't surprise me if Mishima was absolutely thrilled to see you in your Phantom Thief get-up."  
  
Akira plopped his face back into the pillow after this response before letting loose with a low groan, mind heavy in thought.  
  
Maybe he should have taken up the offer to stay if he had known he would be coming back to _that_ kind of welcome.  
  
"Hey, if you're going to bed, you might wanna change into your sleep clothes at least."  
  
"You're right," Akira admitted before grabbing some clothes out of some of the ones he put up. "...you mind?"  
  
"Oh, sorry!" Morgana turned around towards the wall before Akira quickly changed his clothes just in case his mother did come up to his room sometime soon. Once done, he sat down on the edge of the bed, Morgana's signal that he could look again.  
  
"I'm just glad she let me keep you around," Akira stated before scratching at the itchy spot he saw Morgana getting at, causing the cat to purr in relief. "I was afraid she would make me get rid of you for a little bit."  
  
"Same," Morgana admitted before curling up in a ball next to Akira's pillow and yawning. "I'd hate to see her and Chief in a contest of wits, though."  
  
Akira visibly shuddered at the thought before finally settling under the covers, facing away from Morgana as his eyes closed.  
  
...and the center of his chest began to glow for the briefest of moments with a golden light once the pair was deep into slumber.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A yawn escaped Morgana after the alarm started to buzz, stretching out the sleepiness away before looking at Akira.  
  
"Alright, wake up, you gotta get yourself...Akira?"  
  
Even with the irritating buzzing of the alarm, the boy wasn't moving. Breathing, yes, but not moving.  
  
"Akira? Joker?" Hopping up onto his side, Morgana studied his face, searching for traces of trying to ignore the alarm, but all such traces were missing. "JOKER," Morgana shouted in his ear before hopping off of Akira to get onto the side he was facing and pushed the kid over onto his back with the back of his head. "This isn't funny, Akira , wake up!"  
  
Panic was starting to settle into the cat, as he raised a paw, extended claws and tried poking Akira's sides with the sharp points. But no matter where he poked and prodded, Akira wasn't stirring at all.  
  
Whatever was going on, this was not normal.  
  
Morgana scrambled up to the door and hopped up to the handle, making it turn to open the door and bolted towards where he saw Akira's mother, meowing as loudly as he could to catch her attention. Eventually, one of the doors opened, revealing a woman with similar curls to Akira's but slightly longer and a shade of dark-brown who had been dressed up as if preparing for work as a secretary.  
  
"I had no idea you were going to be this noisy," the woman remarked, dark green eyes falling upon Morgana. Shaking her head, she stopped for the moment as the sound of the alarm still going was caught by her. "I guess Sojiro didn't help him snap out of being a nightowl," she sighed before walking towards the direction of Akira's room, seeing the door open, but still hearing the alarm clearly. "...Akira?"  
  
Cautiously, she opened the door, seeing Akira's sleeping and unmoving form still on the bed. Morgana hopped past her, seeing that he had indeed not moved at all. The alarm was blaring still at full volume, and Morgana even tried extending claws and raking across one of the minor's cheeks with them, drawing a light amount of blood as a result, to no avail.  
  
Seeing the claws move accross Akira's face with no reaction at all, the woman ran forward towards the bed to grab him by the shoulders, shaking him vigorously.  
  
"Akira! Akira! Wake up!"  
  
After a literal minute of shaking, a faint groan finally escaped from the boy's throat, causing her to stop. A few moments later, his eyes slowly opened up, slow enough to hide the brief shimmer of gold over his irises. "M...ma...mom?" Full awareness returned to him as he finally registered the blaring alarm and the fact that his mother was trying to literally shake him awake. "Mom," he belted out as his eyes widen all the way in shock before immediately shifting into a lotus-style sitting postion, thankful he was clothed. "What are you doing in my room?!"  
  
"Making sure you were okay," his mother replied before pointing at the alarm.  
  
Fifteen minutes had passed since the alarm first sounded. "I was worried that I would have to take you to the hospital for being in a coma! Even the cat scratching you across the face wasn't waking you!"  
  
Registering the sting on his cheek after the statement, Akira rubbed a hand against it for a second before pulling it back, stunned at the sight of blood, even if it was light.  
  
"I panicked," Morgana admitted, though only Akira could hear him. "I tried poking you in other parts as well...and don't give me that look," Morgana added, narrowing his eyes at him. "I'm not bringing a paw anywhere near there."  
  
"Now that you are awake for sure," he heard his mother say as she started walking backwards out of the room. "It's time for you to get ready. Some bandages are in the bathroom mirror if you need them for that." Closing the door on the way out, Akira covered his face with his hands, momemtarily wondering what had just happened before getting ready for the day.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
As Akira reached for the front door after finishing getting cleaned up with a decent-sized bandage over his cheek and dressed in a solid black version of the uniform he had for Suijin, he felt a sudden weight upon his backpack, jolting him as the sound of a zipper being undone reached his ears. Looking back, he caught the sliver of a tail disappearing into his backpack, to which he sighed.  
  
"Just because I was able to take you to Suijin with me doesn't mean I'll be able to do so here, Morgana," Akira remarked flatly, prompting the new weight in his backpack to pop his head into view.  
  
"I'm sure your mother can do something about that," Morgana shot back, prompting a facepalm from the young man, thankful it was just them two.  
  
"I also was still on probation and Sojiro convinced the school that taking care of you full time would help me keep on the 'straight and narrow'. Still don't know how he pulled that off, though."  
  
Morgana giggled slightly as Akira pulled his hand off his face, though slightly surprised that he did not leave a print of red on his own face, considering how loud the self-imposed slap was. "I'm sure you won't get in trouble for having me around as long as I'm quiet."  
  
"I'm pretty sure I---"  
  
"Akira, are you okay?" Akira froze for a moment before recollecting himself and looking up towards the source, that being his mother which wore a concerned look. "And...why are you arguing with a cat?"  
  
"Uh, sorry, I'll put the cat back into my room," Akira said with a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand before bolting back upstairs to his room in the two-story house. Once back up, he was fast in picking up the cat by the scruff of the neck, pulling him out of his backpack and back onto the bed. "Are you trying to get me in trouble already?"  
  
"No," shot Morgana in an indignant tone. "I'm not trying to get you into trouble. I just wanna come!"  
  
"Unfortunately you can't," Akira argued back, keeping his voice low. "Pets are not exactly allowed in most schools."  
  
"I'm not a pet!"  
  
"To most people, yes, you are."  
  
Morgana falling silent in response to this, Akira left the room while leaving a crack open for the cat to leave the room when he wanted. Not that the young man believed that he would do so for a while, anyway...


	3. Homeroom

"Hey, isn't he one of the---"  
  
"Hey, I recognize those eyes!"  
  
"Holy cow, we have a real life---"  
  
"Pah, he's no---"  
  
"Think he got into a---"  
  
Akira had been doing his best to ignore the remarks surrounding his presence in Shizuoka Gakuen School of both good and bad nature, trying to make himself difficult to notice, but unfortuantely failing at every step. Thanks to his stunts as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, he had become famous while gone, probably because of all of the Thieves showing up on the radiowaves a while ago.  
  
Admittedly, all the attention was grating on his nerves. He didn't do what he did for the fame...though such acts might have played a part into why he was allowed back in his old private school instead of being sent to a public one like Suijin was, in addition to the high grades he managed to get over that particular school year...the time he was forced out of school to go into hiding after his supposed 'death' didn't leave him with much choice to do anything else, admittedly.  
  
Mentally envisioning Satanael ripping some of the more insistent 'fans' and jerks apart had been helping to keep him from acting out physically, though it made him seem like he was zoning out often as he moved through the school to relearn the place. Unfortunately, there was one person he couldn't shake off that was making him think of Mishima back in Tokyo.  
  
No, _Mishima_ at least proved useful by unintentionally giving him and his team goals to aim for while traversing Mementos. _This girl behind him_ was just driving him up the tallest of trees.  
  
"C'mon, can't I at least have an autograph?" Quickly reaching his limit due to the sheer amount of attention he was getting, he tapped into the tricks Ryuji taught him regards sprinting and bolted towards the direction of his homeroom, leaving the girl in the dust behind and netting a few 'slow down!'s towards his direction, mostly from teachers. He was probably going to wind up invited to join track after that stunt, but he felt that wasn't in the cards for him. Once he reached his homeroom, Akira rested his back against the wall between the door and the desk near him for the moment and slid down against it, covering his face and groaning into them in aggravation.  
  
"Not a fan of fame, I'm guessing?" Wincing behind his hands, Akira slowly removed them to look up towards the person that just spoke to him.  
  
This definitely didn't look like a teacher he was familiar with from before he wound up on probation sitting behind the teacher's desk, but she definitely wore the teacher's uniform...wait.  
  
Now that he thought on it, this woman had an accent not too dissimilar to Ann's. She didn't look very Japanese, either. She also wore not the uniform for female teachers, but for the males from what he could see and a slightly thicker variant as well. How did she get that exception?  
  
And are those military stripes he was seeing on her arm? They weren't for any Japanese army he knew of...especially with the eagle pinned to her chest like that and the word 'Merino' underneath it.  
  
"...no, I'm not," Akira admitted, realizing that he may have gotten lucky with getting the one teacher that may be neutral to his apparent fame, even sympathetic. He got back up to his feet before finding himself studying her.  
  
"Such studying can be done more subtly, Mr. Kurusu."  
  
How she referred to him threw Akira more than being caught doing what he was, especially since she hadn't looked up towards him. He had heard no honorific at the end of the name, yet he could hear the same expected tone of respect from the 'Mr.' she added to the front of his family name.  
  
Now that he thought about it, didn't Chouno-san insist repeatedly on...  
  
"Are you an English teacher?" A small grin fell on her face before finally looking up at him, placing wire-framed glasses over watchful brown eyes. As she did so, he noticed that she was wearing white gloves over her hands in a similar style to the red ones he used to wear. He immediately chalked it up to coincidence upon her removal of them before grabbing a clipboard, showing calloused hands.  
  
"Right in one," was the response she gave before picking up a pen. "Pick a seat, I don't pick seats for my students this early on in the year, though I have no problem with re-arrangements later on." Not long after she said that, the teacher looked towards the door after catching movement. "And make it fast."  
  
Akira turned his head so he could look out the door and saw the flood of students beginning to head towards the classroom. He immediately decided to take the window seat closest to the front so that he could look outside and still have a chance of running out of there in case something happened.  
  
The other students started pouring into the classroom no more than ten minutes before school could finally begin, though Akira doubted that his school life was going to be anywhere near normal now.  
  
At least, it would be more normal than last year. Admittedly, his time in juvenile hall made him actually not want to return to being a Phantom Thief any time soon. Especially since he heard multiple rumors that the adult prisons were much, much worse...  
  
A shudder crawled up his spine as he tried to reign in his imagination on how much worse things could have easily been for him. The shudder made him miss the initial whispers nearby, though after a few seconds, he found himself tuning everything back out. It was just more whispers regarding him, though quite a few of them included words of caution in dealing with him...  
  
"...hear he can summon a huge demon thing."  
  
"Is he a real-life shaman or something? That'd be so cool!"  
  
"Do you really believe that nonsense?"  
  
It took all his nerve to not react to those statements at all beyond curling in his toes within his shoes, leaving him to wonder if the fight between his Phantom Thieves and Yaldabaoth was recorded and broadcasted somehow. Though, as he thought about it, he wouldn't put it past Mishima to try and somehow to just that...or even Iwai, the grizzled man's connections were deep, after all, despite the fact that the events of that Christmas were largely forgotten by the masses. However, thinking about it made his heart sink at the thought that he would probably never see his Personas again, since the medium for their appearance no longer existed.  
  
The school bell signaling the start of the day rang and everyone not already seated was soon picking seats on their own accord. There was almost no one settling in the middle at first, either people were trying to get as close to or as far away from him as possible. Once everyone sat down, the sounds of boots thudding against the ground was heard, catching Akira's attention as he looked towards the teacher that was now moving in front of her desk.  
  
Waist-long light-brown hair held together in a low ponytail that had him thinking specifically of Justine before her merging with Caroline into Lavenza. Straight back as she held her feet shoulder-length apart from each other with hands held together behind her back. The term 'soldier' floated through Akira's head upon seeing her stance.  
  
"Alright, everyone. First things first, I am Colonel Abigail Merino, and I am formerly of the United States Air Force." Akira was pretty sure people in a few classrooms over could hear her speak. While the Colonel wasn't yelling, the way she projected when she spoke made her sound louder than she probably really was. Even he had to resist the urge to cover his ears, though some students closer to her were doing just that. "Everyone can probably see and hear that I'm not going to be your usual teacher. After the events within the last few months, some teachers were being hired not only for their ability to teach, but also for their ability to protect their students." Breaking her stance, she turned for a second to grab a pen and clipboard in one hand before facing the class once more and taking the pen into her free hand. "When I call your name, raise your hand and acknowledge your presence verbally as you see fit. This is the one time I'm letting you all fly with a swear or two, so if you're that type of person, might as well get it out of your system right now. After a couple of weeks and I start memorizing faces with names, this can be done in a more-traditional way."  
  
 _Baiting the troublemakers, that's actually clever,_ Akira noted in his head as the Colonel started calling off the roll sheet. At least one or two people ended up taking the bait, and Akira noticed that she was studying those particular students a split-second longer than she was supposed to before moving on to the next one.  
  
"Akira Kurusu," she called out, prompting an eyebrow raise from the former thief.  
  
 _Personal before family,_ he questioned in his head before remembering that such was how native English speakers normally did names. He even caught Ann doing it a few times around him and his friends, so it wasn't the first time he had heard his name reversed. Adding another mental note to the growing list he was making and without losing pace, he raised his hand and announced, "Present," before lowering his hand after being seeing.  
  
With a straight face on the teacher, he caught her giving him a very tiny nod while looking towards him before moving onto the next name. Something told him it would be wise to get on and stay on this particular teacher's good side and fast. It also seemed strange for someone formerly from a military branch, especially one from another nation entirely to wind up being his homeroom teacher.  
  
He wondered if it had anything to do with his being back at Shizuoka Gakuen School...


	4. Cracks in the Mask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I couldn't resist putting up another chapter. Don't expect this frequently, though. ^^;  
> As for the reviewer stated that they are worried for Akira...?
> 
> YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW RIGHT YOU ARE WITH THAT FEAR, hahaha...

Akira was all too eager to get back home after the day he had. All day, he had to deal with two polar reactions to his presence, either the intense fandom of the Phantom Thieves or the jealous group that believes he's stealing all the spotlight in addition to other things.  
  
Wincing to himself as he ran home, he couldn't help but flashback to one particularly embarrassing moment around lunchtime.  
  
~~~~~  
  
"Hey, Phantom Thief!" Akira had done his best to not allow himself to react to the title, trying to ignore the masses around him as he tried eating his lunch in peace at his desk. Unlike most of the students, he actually had to get himself a school lunch, since he wound up not having time to make it that morning. Thankfully, the lasagna wasn't bad at all. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"  
  
Feeling a murderous intent behind him, Akira moved his head to one side, dodging a plastic butter knife being thrown at him that would have connected to the back of his head. Thankful he actually had practice in dodging things in class thanks to one teacher in Suijin, he turned to see where it came from. He caught sight of a group of people that really made him wonder how much their parents were paying to keep them enrolled because their grades couldn't be high enough for that. A note of mental pride floated through him at the fact that, despite what he had moonlighted as, he still managed to get within the Top 5 of Suijin's second years.  
  
Admittedly, Ryuji looked the part of a delinquent usually, but this trio made the blonde look like an absolute saint in comparison.  
  
"Not one for talking, eh," sneered the apparent leader, a male third-year student like himself, if what remained of the uniform was an indicator, that towered over Akira even at his full height as he walked forward after getting up from his own desk. "I hear you got some nerve 'stealing hearts'. How'd you do it, huh? It sounds mighty...useful."  
  
"Get out of my face," Akira simply stated, staring back into brown eyes that almost turned red in the right light with his own steel-gray ones after standing up. His luck that the homeroom teacher had to go to the restroom just before this, too.  
  
"Not gonna say?" A motion with his head made, the two beside the big guy, which were a chick that looked like she would be glad to stab someone and another male with a slasher smile that rivaled his own as the Joker, approached him in an attempt to trap him between the wall behind him and them.  
  
Akira had his back against the front wall of the class after getting up from his desk, accidentally brushing off some of the writing on the whiteboard in the process and breathing hard as he tried to figure out how to get out of this without possibly getting expelled. Then, with a motion that had no telegraph at all, the big guy rabbit-punched him, causing Akira to double over long enough for the other two to grab his arms and pin him against the wall.  
  
Being bound brought back some of the more horrible memories of being in juvenile hall as well as being reminded of when he was pinned before first awakening to his old power, causing his eyes to widen, his breathing to become panicked and his body to start quivering, physically anticipating events that would be impossible considering his location. "Not so tough, now, eh?"  
  
"LET ME FUCKING GO!" Taking advantage of the fact that he had been pinned to the wall, he lifted up both feet and kicked the big guy away into several desks, his own included, before headbutting the girl to release one arm and punching out the other with a shot between the eyes to free the remaining arm.  
  
"Why you little?!" Getting back up onto his feet, Akira slipped into a combat stance, only barely recalling that he didn't have a knife and braced himself for unarmed combat.  
  
What happened next, he wasn't sure how it happened.  
  
All he knew was that one hand each had him and the big guy that started all this lifted off their feet by the front of their uniforms. The chick and dude that was also part of this fled back to their seats to make it look like they had nothing to do with anything at the first opportunity and Akira was more busy trying to escape the grasp of the one that held him.  
  
He _did_ catch the fact that the entire class fell silent in shock at the display.  
  
"...child, you make me wonder what demons you deal with if this is how you react," he faintly heard, barely recognizing the voice as belonging to Merino-sensei as he forced himself to focus on the one who held him up instead of the act of escape.  
  
It was due to this that he noticed that the top of his head was about even with the large dude, making his feet more off the ground than he thought. He saw her glare daggers at the one next to him, a critical scowl on her face. He caught the remaining students in stunned silence, in clear fear of their homeroom teacher and how effortlessly she just manhandled two male students.  
  
"Listen here, Mr. Sumis---"  
  
"That's Sumisu- _sama_ to you, bitch," he responded with arrogance, which prompted his uniform to get squeezed tighter before being slammed back into the wall after being lifted off it.  
  
Akira was pretty sure the people in the class on the other side of the wall heard the resulting thud.  
  
"You are no royalty, even here."  
  
"You don't even belong here, foreign whore. Why did the school even decide to let you desecrate this school with your filth?"  
  
The silence hung as Akira found himself let go of, rubbing his arms and the front of his chest as he watched her stare into the guy's eyes.  
  
"I'd highly suggest you watch what you say," Akira heard her whisper into Sumisu's pierced ear. "The faculty may be spineless cowards about getting rid of you, considering how much your parents pay for you to be here, but unlike them, I have no issues putting more-severe cases like yourself six feet under without whiff of a trace. You do not piss off a soldier."  
  
Akira didn't stick around further, he just bolted to someplace safer, such as the rooftop, while abandoning his lunch for lost after that. Thankfully, when Merino-sensei found him up top, stating that this is where she would have bolted in that kind of situation after he asked how she managed to find him so quickly, she did not do anything to suggest he would be in trouble.  
  
In fact, he could have sworn she had a worried look on her face.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Taking a deep breath, he scolded himself for losing his cool as bad as he did. Hell, it rivaled when he first wound up in the Velvet Room and found himself in a prison-like area, how he desperately tried to break out of there and almost fell onto his back when Caroline smacked the electric stun baton against the iron cell door hard enough to create a decent-sized spark. Pushing that memory out of his thoughts for now, he looked up towards the building that he and his mother lived in. It was a two-story home, one of the few in the area, and it showed the kind of wealth that his family had.  
  
Even if he almost never saw his father in recent years because of it.  
  
A sigh at the depressing thought, he continued weaving through some of the street stores nearby before finally approaching and unlocking the mahogany door, letting himself in and ditching his shoes at the side of the door before putting on slippers. "I'm home," he announced, though he didn't see any vehicle outside.  
  
Instead, he saw Morgana pawing up to him, looking peeved.  
  
"Hopefully, you had a more entertaining day than I did," he gripped, to which Akira sighed while shaking his head.  
  
"I'm not sure 'entertaining' is the word I want to use." Making his way quick upstairs, he felt Morgana give him a curious look before hearing the cat follow him up. When he opened the door and saw the computer on his desk...  
  
"...more entertaining, my ass, Morgana!" He felt Morgana scramble past his leg before hopping up and clicking out of almost every image on the screen, all of them either feline, human or some mix of both. "How was I going to explain that to mom if she saw that?!"  
  
Morgana sheepishly laughed at this before hopping onto the bed, raising one paw to lick it before trying to groom one of his ears. "I got bored, sorry..." The cat moved over as Akira dropped off his backpack by the door before sitting down, face in his hands. "...Akira? You okay?"  
  
_"LET ME FUCKING GO!"_  
  
_"...child, you make me wonder what demons you deal with if this is how you react..."_  
  
His eyes winced shut at the recollection of those lines, one of them his own. Juvenile Hall alone couldn't cause anything this bad, could it?  
  
"Yoohooooo! Aki!" Akira folded his fingers down into his hands so that his eyes were now uncovered and shot Morgana a glare for shortening his name. "What happened? It's obvious you had a bad day."  
  
"It's noth---"  
  
"Don't give me that crap." The cat hopped onto Akira's lap and headbutted him to get him to sit up. "After staying with you for a year, I've started learning some of your behaviors." Akira narrowed his eyes further and began to ball up his hands. "I noticed that you tend to let others rely on you to stabilize themselves, but you never rely on others to stabilize yourself. That's not healthy."  
  
"And you'd know about that...how?" Akira snarled upon saying that, prompting Morgana to widen his eyes upon the sound.  
  
"...A...Aki...?"  
  
"Leave me alone." Brushing Morgana off his lap harder than he meant to, which earned him some decent yet accidental scratches on his legs from the cat's claws, Akira pulled back the covers of the bed, not even bothering to change out of his school clothes first and covered even his head underneath him.  
  
This tactic to cover him in darkness used to work well enough to calm him down growing up, but now that he had grown used to seeing in the dark, it was no longer dark enough to comfort him. This thought reminded him of how Arsene used Darkness spells primarily to fight, making him wonder if this old habit played a hand into that. But even after feeling Morgana hopping onto him and trying to catch his attention, awareness around him began to fade as his eyes began to feel heavy...


	5. Lurking Within

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished a new chapter, so I went ahead and put this one up. The extra chapters are so that in case I get stuck on one, I have time to figure it out before I get outright screwed.

When he opened his eyes again, it was far darker under the blanket than he figured it would be, dark enough for even him to not be able to see in it, as well as colder in the room around him. Did he sleep so long it had become night? Letting loose with a yawn, he tried to pul the blanket off of himself, the sting of cold hitting him more than it should be. But there was no blanket to do so with on him.  
  
And it was still pitch black, which should be impossible with the computer in the room.  
  
"What's going on," he muttered to himself before trying to sit up.  
  
However, he couldn't lift his head. Instead, he felt something metallic against his neck, keeping him in a lying down position, which fully woke him up. Reaching up with both hands, he tried to feel for what was around his neck, but what he felt and heard sent his heart racing.  
  
He heard and felt chains against his forearms. His bare forearms.  
  
"No, nonono!" Panic filling him, he tried to move as much as he could, but he felt his legs also restrained, with ankle bracelets bound by chains to what he laid on. That was when he finally registered the cold slab that his back was against. Using the limited movement he did have with his hands, he placed his hands flat against the slab...  
  
...but when one of his thumbs brushed up against the skin of his side, he realized that he wasn't wearing anything in the darkness.  
  
"What's going on?!"  
  
"So, when you think you're alone, the masks you wear crack like fragile glass under a hammer."  
  
The voice had caused Akira to freeze, making his heart stop for more than two seconds as he felt his blood run cold. He was desperately trying to see in the pitch black, see what was around him, but he could make out nothing. He did recognize it, however, as belonging to the fake Igor that had 'watched' over him for most of his maddening journey through the minds and hearts of others as well as...  
  
"So, you still remember my voice, even with the months that have passed." A dim light lit up a distance away, just enough to break the darkness and allow him to see his surroundings with the minimal light. Bending his head so that he could see, he got his answer to why he was so cold.  
  
There was not a stitch of clothing on him, and he knows he passed out in his school uniform.  
  
"In this prison, you've been disallowed even that privilege." Turning his head upon hearing the sound of footsteps, he wound up seeing the sight of cell doors, an image burned into his mind from his short time behind them. He saw the shadow of a person approaching on the ground on the other side of the bars...  
  
...though the shadow's shape was impossible, or so he thought before seeing the one casting the shadow enter his view.  
  
He saw a duplicate of himself, wearing the same outfit he would in the Metaverse, right down to the mask and grin he often wore on his face. The only detail that was off, however, was the fact that the eyes behind the mask were the same yellow that most Shadows had instead of his own steel-gray.  
  
"Not...not pos..."  
  
"Very possible."  
  
Akira completely froze.  
  
He saw his double's lips move, nod just as he would with that statement, stare at him with the same calculating look.  
  
But the voice was not his...but His.  
  
A self-satisfied smirk appeared on the double's face upon seeing the original's expression before lazily removing a glove and taking a knife to clean out from underneath the fingernails. "As much as I would love to enjoy myself, it is not yet time." Then the Shadow-eyed Joker suddenly looked up towards him with only those yellow eyes, not moving any other part of him except to continue cleaning under his nails. "Back to reality with you, don't expect to remember this..."  
  
"...but I _will_ shatter your rebellious soul in time."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Akira woke up screaming and immediately sat upright in the bed, his heart racing and face covered in sweat, though he remembered not why. He had not noticed accidentally sending Morgana, who had ended up jumping up onto him and curling up into a ball on his side at some point, flying into the closet on near the other side of the room.  
  
"Hey, what was that for?!" He faintly heard, partially due to the loud thundering in his ears he was hearing from the blood rushing through him. Covering his face with his hands, he tried to breathe to calm himself, calm his heart down before daring to lower his hands to see the cat that had hopped back into his lap.  
  
He had caught Morgana shift from an angered look to a worried one upon seeing his face. "...Akira?"  
  
"I...I'll be...fine?" Finally turning his head towards the window, Akira couldn't help but blink in surprise. It was still clearly daylight outside. Turning his head and body the other way to get a better look at the time listed on his computer, a look of surprise fell on his face.  
  
It had been, at absolute most, an hour since he got home. His mother wouldn't be due home for yet another hour unless something happened on the job. Subconsciously rubbing his neck and wrists, he covered his face with one hand, trying to get his head straight.  
  
"...when you think you're alone..." Akira found himself looking quickly to either side of him upon hearing the voice, not sure where it came from, though he didn't move his head. He felt a shift in weight that stopped right next to him.  
  
"You might need to see someone, whatever's going through your head can't be healthy if you're this erratic."  
  
"I'm fi---"  
  
"No, you're not!"  
  
Akira found himself forced backwards onto the bed, Morgana standing on his chest after he headbutted the kid in the chest. "First that coma-like state this morning, now whatever had you screaming at the top of your lungs after a 45-minute nap. Something's wrong with you!"  
  
"...I need to shower before mom gets home." Though more an excuse to get Morgana off his case momentarily, he did feel like he sweated right through his school clothes, requiring them to be washed thoroughly before he could wear them again. Taking a set of regular clothes with him, he made his way to the bathroom.  
  
After the day he had, he felt the need to relax in the tub for longer than usual.


	6. Instability and Worry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I CAN HAS PERSONA 5! And I've already discovered something that requires a NG+ to pull off, that being have enough Guts to tell Igor off early on, hehe.
> 
> So, yeah, I completed typing up another chapter, which means another chapter is put up. Enjoy~  
> Oh, an FYI, the link mentioned in the chapter is a real one. Feel free to clicky for a sliver of education.

Akira couldn't make himself eat once dinner came about. He knew he didn't get to eat much of his lunch, considering the massive mess in the classroom he made, but that still didn't stop his stomach from refusing what was in front of him due to being in knots. The most he could do was move around the food on his plate with his chopsticks.

His mother didn't usually go through the effort to make something like shrimp umani and cabbage rolls, especially a little of both in the same meal outside of New Year's Eve, unless she was trying to create some form of metaphorical padding before striking him with words to come. This was more due to the fact that she usually didn't have the energy to do a lot of cooking when she got home, so the actual cooking usually fell to him after quite a few years. Not that he minded growing up once he started, sometimes the distraction of cooking, of doing something other than schoolwork, helped him figure out things that puzzled him. When his mother called and said that she would be the one cooking tonight, he knew something was up. The only thing he had on his mind is the possibility that she was called by the principal on the first day from what happened in homeroom.

The long-sleeved gray shirt he was wore was loose and he was purposely leaning forward. He hadn't noticed it at the time, but after he got undressed to get cleaned up, he noticed a rather red friction burn where the Colonel had grabbed him by the front of his uniform and lifted him off the ground by at least a foot. Only after he noticed it did the pain of the burn on his chest finally kick in, requiring the use of burn cream to deal with it.

"So...Akira..."

 _Here we go,_ he thought to himself before looking up towards her, doing his best to look like nothing was wrong. "Yes?"

"I got an interesting call from your school, specifically from your homeroom teacher." Akira couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this. Normally, such calls from the school were done by the principal or vice, so for the Colonel to sidestep them entirely was a surprise. Did she even say anything to them? "Merino-san sounded worried about you. May I ask what happened at school today?"

Akira moved his steel-gray eyes away from his mother's dark-green ones, unwilling to look into her eyes. "Nothing happened."

"...she did say you were likely to deny that anything happened." Akira tensed up at this. "According to her, she saw you being pinned against the wall by three students during lunch." At this point, without moving his head, he looked back towards her, seeing the concerned look on her face. "While she admitted that was an impressive kick you apparently did, she claimed that she had to pin both you and another against the same wall to break up the fight that followed." He watched as she looked down at her plate for a moment, as if trying to steel herself for her next words. "She claimed that what you were doing matched what she knew of as a PTSD attack and having you jolted in such a way was the fastest way she knew to snap someone out of it."

Akira froze. The chopsticks in his hand stopped moving completely and he stared at his mother, almost in defiance. "I do not have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, mother," he said flatly, stressing and almost snarling the word 'not' as he did.

"You haven't been the same boy since you left for probation. What have the Phantom Thieves done to you to---" Abruptly, Akira stood up in the middle of her sentence and began to walk away without even a bite of dinner. "Young man, we're not---"

**"Yes, we are done talking."**

Feet heavy against the floor as he walked away, he almost missed his mother's words, "What happened to my sweet little boy?"

Only when he was finally alone in his room, not even Morgana in it, did he finally answer faintly to himself, "you sent him to die alone in Tokyo, that's what happened."

He completely ignored Morgana's wanting to come into the room from the other side of the door as he muttered to himself, "I should have accepted the deal..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I should have accepted the deal..." Morgana tilted his head on the other side, quietly putting an ear against the door to better hear what was being said. The cat winced, but managed to make no noise as the sound of a lock clicking into place followed by something sliding down against the door became heard before catching the shadow of someone sitting next to the door from the crack under it. "If I had known that this was going to be my 'reward', to continue being a prisoner in this fucked-up world, I would have accepted that deal and make everyone else the prisoner and myself the warden for once..."

Morgana pulled back his head to look at the door, imagining himself looking at Akira on the other side with concern. The cat had been secretly under the table, wanting some of the shrimp he smelled when started hearing what was being talked about. While he felt wounded by the question Akira first interrupted, Morgana could admittedly see why his mother would ask such a thing.

"Now that I think about it, I wonder if any of the others are starting to break down over this, or if it's just him," Morgana muttered to himself, the lack of reaction indicator to the fact that Akira either did not hear him or chose not to react. Considering that Akira got the shortest stick of all the Phantom Thieves, having seen the inside of a jail cell far more than once in his life, and not just in reality to his knowledge, it would seem reasonable for the kid to be traumatized to at least some degree. Now that the cat thought on it, it was probably a good thing that none of the Palaces turned out to be a prison, or there's a chance that this sort of breakdown could have been witnessed in front of the entire team far earlier.

That was a thought Morgana wasn't eager to entertain.

Sneaking into the workroom belonging to Akira's mother with care, cautious to both not allow himself to be seen in here and to not mess with whatever was currently being worked on, he tried to recall the chat ID for Futaba before carefully typing away at the keyboard...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<<Akira:

Something's wrong with Akira.>>

Futaba, who had been sleeping at her keyboard from working on her schooling, stirred at the chat pinging her. Wiping her eyes from under her glasses, Futaba looked up at her computer screen, and blinked a few times at the message, trying to figure out whom could have sent it.

Then a lightbulb went off in her head and she furiously started typing in response.

<<Futaba:  
Wait, what?! What happened to my Key Item?!>>

<<Akira:  
I don't know, I didn't go to school with him today. Wasn't allowed to.>> Futaba raised an eyebrow at that, taking a moment to clean her glasses while waiting for more to appear.  
<<From what I heard, Akira wound up in a fight with a few others and his homeroom teacher had to break it up with force. It seemed like, to the teacher, that he had a...PTSD? attack. What is that?>>

<<Futaba:  
Wait, AKIRA having a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder attack?! That's impossible! He's always so calm and collected about everything!>>

She could hear the facepaw from her side of the conversation when she realized the next message was delayed.  
<<Akira:  
I don't even know what that IS. I just found out about TODAY.>>

Futaba opened up one of her many web browsers, specifically one she created to translate sites that weren't in Japanese into such with a fair bit of fluidity. With some clever use of what she would call 'search engine-fu', she found the site she was looking for, thankful that the translation from English to Japanese didn't break the formatting of the site she found.

In fact, there was almost no indicator that the language was indeed changed, which was a good thing.

"Alright, step one down. Now..." Typing away furiously, she uploaded an installer version of her custom browser to one of her custom servers that Sojiro still doesn't know she has, before sending a link to the computer Morgana was using.  
<<Futaba:  
Click this and download the browser in it. It's one I made to translate other sites into Japanese without breaking it. It still needs some work, but the link I have next won't break.>>

Ten minutes passed, Futaba threatening to have her face become one with her keyboard again before a response finally came.  
<<Akira:  
Alright, downloaded and installed. Now send it.>>

<<Futaba:  
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml  
Ignore the 'Join a Study' part and anything below that, but tell me if this matches what you're seeing and hearing about him.>>

Futaba almost fell asleep once more while waiting. 20 minutes passed, which she figured was fair since she did send the cat something to read. The response she finally got, however...

<<Akira:  
...this...this is exactly what I'm seeing and hearing from him!>>  
<<How do you know about this sort of thing?>>

Futaba looked away from her computer, and up towards some of the gifts that Akira had given her over the year. It slightly stung that he saw her more like a sister he didn't have than anything else, but she could live with that. She didn't mind having a surrogate brother, once she thought about it.

<<Futaba:  
...survivor's guilt is a type of PTSD.>>  
<<With everyone's help, he helped me out of my internal tomb, so now I have to find a way to help him.>> Futaba let out a loud yawn before adding in,  
<<After I get some sleep.>>

<<Akira:  
Sorry, I'm just worried about him. He's kicked even me out of his room.>> Futaba raised an eyebrow at this.

"That's...what's happening to you, Akira-chan?" Thankful for the bug still in his phone, Futaba quickly reactivated it and set it to record upon hearing any sort of sound before going to sleep, this time in her bed proper instead of on her keyboard.


	7. Alert the Soldiers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter finished, so another chapter gets put up. Also, how many of you have had one plotline in mind and the story ended up writing itself away from that plotbunny?
> 
> There's a chance I may have to downgrade from Explict to Mature. I admittedly put it at the max at first for safety.

Akira found his awareness back in the strange prison room, bound to the hard slab of metal he was on bound at the wrists, ankles and neck to various degrees of freedom without anything at all covering his bare skin and shielding him from the coldness of the air. Strangely, he knew better than to try and sit up, that particular band allowed for no mobility at all, but he couldn't help but try and get comfortable in some way and to see outside of the cell he was in.  
  
He managed to succeed on laying on his side, his back towards the wall closest to him. However, the darkness all around him was pitch black, and he couldn't even see his own nose on his face. Such a position was also putting strain on his neck, since he couldn't lift it to properly turn over.  
  
He did hear footsteps, oddly familiar ones that sounded like they approached his general direction. As each step sounded, the sounds of chains started stirring louder and louder. He could hear pathetic cries, a few of them oddly familiar despite his inability to place them. Lights soon started to appear, first faint and distant, then closer and closer.  
  
The closest ones outside his cell blinded him for a few moments, his vision only clearing just before a silhouette entered his view with piercing yellow eyes.  
  
"Back already?" He could hear the grin in the voice as he focused on the shadow, taking advantage of the light to better see. However, it wasn't until the shadow leaned against the bars and allowed the light to shine on his face that Akria finally growled.  
  
Why was he looking at a version of himself with those yellow eyes? Those are the eyes of a Shadow instead of a Persona user, though...why was someone dressed like that over there instead of himself wearing that ensemble?  
  
"Here, within your own heart, I've made sure you have no remaining power." He saw his unusual duplicate look away from his cell towards another direction. It was then that he finally noticed other cells and their residents.  
  
It felt like his heart stopped for way more than a few beats upon recognizing his Personas, sad and depressed behind individual cells, some more chained up and bound than others.  
  
He didn't see any trace of Satanael, however, let alone feel him.  
  
"Don't expect to see that particular prisoner anytime soon...or at all." Pulling something out of a jacket Akira should be wearing with red gloves, he heard the sound of a key being used to open the lock of the cell. Soon, the door was pushed to the side with a loud clang as the false Joker walked up towards his bound form. "Now, what should I do to you this night..."  
  
Suddenly, the Shadow-eyed Joker grabbed Akira's right leg, netting a yelp as he tried to shake the gloved hand off. "I thank you for offering this. Now, so you know in waking that you're in trouble..."  
  
The fake twisted Akira's leg at the knee in towards the right, causing him to scream in pain. From the knee down, though it was miraculously still attached to him, from the knee down, his right leg was facing the other direction, the heel of his foot closer to the front now. If he had mind enough to notice, however, he would have realized that no part of his leg was broken to do this, however. "I'll take this slow for now, allows the 'show' to continue for as long as I wish it to."  
  
"Let me g---" A fist connected into the right side of his face, the fake slamming down a closed-up gloved fist against his head. A nasty bruise started to form near his ear, where the fist had connected with his skull.  
  
"You are not allowed to speak. I do not wish you to be heard somehow." Looking out towards the open cell door for a second, he cracked his knuckles before looking back down at Akira. "Your thoughts are more than enough for that."  
  
The grin he was used to making emerged on his double's face, creeping him out from seeing it. "I'm going to take my time with you. Don't expect that rebellious soul of yours to come out of this in one piece...if at all. _Enjoy_ the rest of your sleep." The last sentence was said with a darkened laugh just as Akira's awareness returned to blackness.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Akira awoke to both the alarm and the eruption of pain in his right knee, feeling like it was bending in ways it shouldn't be. Wincing in pain from being caught off his guard by it as his breath hitched, he sat up just enough to slam his hand on the alarm.  
  
Once the alarm silenced itself, he realized that one side of his head was pounding. Bringing the other hand to the right side of his head, he winced from just gently touching it. "Ow, what in the...?"  
  
He knew he didn't go to bed with a head or leg injury of any sort, so what was going on? And Morgana wasn't anywhere in sight, so where...?  
  
After a moment, he shook his head and instantly regretted it upon remembering that he kept Morgana out of his room. Though he was surprised that he didn't come into the room on his own, at least until he remembered that he locked the door to his room. Even with Morgana's skills, he would need to push something to in front of his door to be able to pick it open.  
  
Kicking his legs over the edge of the bed, his right knee flared up in pain as he tried to put weight on it. Shaking his head, he moved a hand over to his computer desk near the bed and used it to help him get up into a standing position. It almost reminded him of when he had that ball and chain around one of his legs in the Velvet Room, but that was just there to hold him back.  
  
This was actual pain that he had no idea the source for. Because of this, he forced himself to carefully move around, gathering up his uniform for that day before heading to the bathroom...  
  
...and letting loose with a hell of a scream a few minutes after closing the door behind him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"How did his leg and head get that black and blue," Morgana asked himself as both mother and son left the house, the former taking the latter to the hospital. "He didn't sound that active last night...and from that scream, I don't think he was braced to see that, either."  
  
A sigh escaping his muzzle, Morgana took advantage of the fact that both of them were gone to use Akira's computer this time, perched onto the desk as he typed away with care at the keyboard. Using both paws as needed to move the mouse, Morgana opened up the chat program used to contact Futaba on a different computer the night before, scrolling through to see the old Phantom Thieves chat that had been relatively unused since Akira left Tokyo.  
  
"Time to knock the dust off this chat," Morgana muttered to himself before typing away.  
  
<<Akira:  
Hey, I have a question for all of you.>>  
<<And before anyone asks, this is Morgana.>>  
  
He knew most of the others were likely to be either really busy or still in school, so he chose to be patient in regards to responses. One message popped up quick, however, though he figured as much upon seeing it from Ryuji.  
  
<<Ryuji:  
What's up? And how are you messaging us? Don't you have paws?>>  
  
Morgana took advantage of being alone to roll his eyes before responding.  
  
<<Akira:  
There's a computer program for this, which I am using.>>  
<<But yeah...I'm worried about Akira...I talked to Futaba last night after dinner. Have any of you heard of "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder"?>> Morgana had to cheat and copy that from the logs with Futaba to get that out, the phrase a pain to type out.  
  
The next message turned out to be from Makoto.  
<<Makoto:  
That is a serious question to be asking. May I ask what brought it up?>>  
  
<<Akira:  
It was brought up at dinner last night. His homeroom teacher called his mother last night in worry and mentioned that Akira had reacted in a way that reminded her of a "PTSD" attack. His teacher also mentioned during the call that she had to break up the fight between him and another to shock him out of it.>>  
  
<<Ann:  
...I hope things turn out alright for him. His life's been rough enough to deal with that on top of everything.>> Ann was the next to message the chat, and Morgana couldn't help but nod in agreement.  
  
Makoto soon responded as well.  
<<Makoto:  
...as sad as it is to admit this, Akira was the most-likely one of us all to develop something of this nature. Even with all of us as his friends, we all unfairly put a lot of responsibility squarely on his shoulders, especially since he had his probation over his head the whole time.>>  
  
Visual silence passed for a minute before Makoto responded once more.  
<<Makoto:  
I think a visit to Shizuoka this Sunday is in order.>>  
  
<<Yusuke:  
We would have to leave immediately after school to make sure we have plenty of sunlight to both get back home Sunday and have plenty of time to spend with him.>> Yusuke responded this time.  
<<I would not mind enjoying the view of the ocean once more. A marvelous task is done in keeping the waters clear in the town.>>  
  
<<Makoto:  
This is fair. Any objections to visiting Akira this Sunday?>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
Hell, nah. I can live with a late-nighter to visit him!>>  
<<! Actually, can we bring one other person?>>  
  
Morgana raised a furred eyebrow at this before making a response.  
<<Akira:  
Who are you thinking about?>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
Dr. Takemi. She was taking care of him while he was down here...and I'm pretty sure she would like to see her 'guinea pig'.>>  
  
<<Akira:  
...I don't WANT to know how you know about that nickname for him,>> Morgana typed out before momentarily bringing a paw to his muzzle in thought.   
<<Though, considering this morning, that might be a good idea. There's some serious black and blue near his right temple and around his right knee. He was struggling to walk this morning because of it.>>  
  
<<Makoto:  
Alright, I guess we will get all the arrangements made. Don't let Akira know about this.>>  
  
Morgana facepawed upon seeing that message from Makoto.  
<<Akira:  
...did you forget something about this chat...I'm using the computer app for this. And he's probably...>>  
<<Morgana, I said I was fine. Drop it. I do not have PTSD, either.>>  
<<Also, everyone, you do not need to come over on such short notice.>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
...did anyone else weird out over Akira appearing to be talking to himself?>>  
  
<<Makoto:  
Ryuji, we both know that's not the case. Also, Akira, we're all worried about you.>>  
  
<<Akira:  
Don't be. I'm stronger than that and all of you know that.>>  
  
<<Haru:  
...even the strongest person can develop cracks that widen over time, destroying someone from within if a person isn't careful to watch for them.>> The last message had been from Haru, and Morgana nodded in agreement.  
  
<<Akira:  
Listen, I appreciate your concern, but seriously, I'm fine.>>  
<<Also, since Morgana mentioned it, I just got out of the ER. The doctors here are absolutely confused about the discoloration and pain from both my head and my knee.>>  
<<Apparently, there's no actual damage to either location, though my right knee constantly feels like it's been turned 180 at the joint and my head won't stop pounding.>>  
<<Second day of school and I may end up being forced to skip it. And I got the homeroom teacher even I don't want to piss off.>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
Wait, you got a teacher that even scares you?>>  
  
<<Akira:  
'Scare' is a strong word, Ryuji. She did lift me up a full foot off the ground, though, so she's definitely not a person I want to meet in a dark alley.>>  
<<Is that normal among former military?>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
What the 'eff?!>>  
  
<<Akira:  
Anyhoo, this is one chat I really don't want to have right now. I don't really know much about this teacher. It does seem like she's a quick study, though.>>  
  
Morgana sighed to himself while looking at the messages. "That almost sounds like...nah, that's impossible. The Metaverse is gone..."


	8. Question Finally Answered

"What in blue blazes happened to you?" Akira walked gingerly into the classroom during lunch, the way he was favoring a leg obvious in addition to the patch being held to the side of his head, the white wrapped around his head clashing with the black of his hair.  
  
"The doctors are still trying to figure that out. Just got out of the ER." He watched Merino-san winced at this before waving him in.  
  
"Come on in, then, don't be a wallflower." Walking with lunch in hand was proving to be tricky, though he only had to come in with it due to being late to school. He was thankful to get off his leg finally after the day he had so far. Fortunately, his teacher decided to help him after a few painful steps the rest of the way to his desk. "Be thankful Gym's already passed, or I'd have to get the PE coach to make you sit out."  
  
Letting loose with a sigh of relief, Akira got to eating his lunch, thankful that he didn't get any sudden dietary restrictions.  
  
"Oh, I almost forgot." Looking up from his food, Akira saw the Colonel sitting up from her chair, leaning forward towards his direction. "You ended up missing this, but today during morning homeroom, I was letting students ask me one question in exchange for a question of my own being asked to them. All sides had to answer honestly, myself included. If you want to ask me a question, I'll allow you to do so now."  
  
Akira didn't immediately answer, instead he ate his food as he thought. Then a thought crossed his mind. He had always wondered if what happened to Tokyo on Christmas happened anywhere else in the world. While there was a huge chance she was one of the many that was made unaware of what happened, there were those whom still remembered, so...  
  
"What happened last Christmas, Merino-san?" The Colonel suddenly winced, as if experiencing a bad memory, before looking up towards the ceiling as she placed a hand on her hip.  
  
"Ugh, you just _had_ to ask about the day I swore off alcohol, Akira."  
  
Akira raised an eyebrow at that statement as he saw he look back down towards him before continuing. "I literally picked the worst day to get smashed. I was in my home back in the states when the electronics around me started getting screwy. I thought it was the breaker getting messed with, so I went out to deal with it, but the sky was colors it wasn't supposed to be, and I could have sworn I saw humongous rib cages among the clouds. I went back inside and heard from the speakers of my radio voices I couldn't understand at the time, and my laptop computer displaying an aerial view of a fight you have to be taking acid to be seeing. Someone with red gloves and a dark-blue tailed coat grabbed onto chains that were attached to their wrists and shattered them...then a few moments later, the biggest being I've ever seen emerged to put one large bullet in the golden foe's face."  
  
Akira was having a hard time keeping the shock off his face. He did thankfully manage doing just that, however. "I haven't drank a single drop since after that."  
  
"...definitely sounds like a good reason to stop..." While Akira did get his answer, he was still surprised that the teacher remembered that night, especially since she would have had no way to form any form of connection with him. However, when he considered everything else she said...  
  
"Could distorted states of mind have prevented some people from forgetting," he muttered to himself in question, wondering whom else might remember that night for one reason or another.  
  
"Now, give me a few minutes while I think of my question since you took a few for yours." Nodding in understanding, he watched as Merino-san moved over to her desk, sitting as she ate her own food in front of her laptop with clearly practiced ease. He was half-wondering what she would ask of him, especially considering the question he asked and the answer she gave. He saw her looking at the screen and him, as if comparing him with something unknown, in addition to closing her eyes every so often in thought.  
  
"...I'm going to need longer than I thought to think of something I can ask," she remarked as the bell to end lunch rang. Standing up so that she can begin packing up her things for the next class, she quickly took two sheets of paper and wrote on each, erasing a few times on one of the sheets before finishing them up. Folding up one of them and taking it with her, Akira sighed as he stretched out his pained leg, trying to allow his blood to flow through it.  
  
He was also really glad he grabbed a seat at the front, so he didn't have to worry about kicking someone doing this by accident.  
  
"Kurusu-kun, I was asked to give you this." Akira looked up to see his next teacher, a somewhat chubby man that thankfully wasn't too overweight for his shortened height. Wearing the normal attire for male teachers, this new teacher wore wire-framed glasses whose lenses didn't seem to be as thick as Merino-san's.  
  
Accepting the note, Akira tried to stand, but the pain shooting up his leg stopped him dead in his tracks. "Ack...thank you, Mashiro-sensei..."  
  
"Try not to put weight on that, Kurusu-kun. Merino-san informed me of your difficulty with walking on my way to the room." Rubbing the back of his neck in sheepishness, he was admittedly unused to this sort of treatment.  
  
"Alright..." Watching him sit down at the desk to get things set up for the next class, Akira opened up the note to read it.  
  
 _Well, I know what to ask you, but I didn't want to ask in front of that many people._  
 _Since you seem to know exactly what I was talking about, this is what I wanted to ask._  
 _First of all, the figures I saw fighting on Christmas against the golden figure, was that you and the rest of the Phantom Thieves? And before you start, I did read the police logs relating to you once I heard you spent time behind bars. I wanted to do my best to get the full story before casting judgment of any sort. I also withheld judgment until after actually meeting you in class yesterday. Even your code name of 'Joker' is on record. As much as I want to ask the reasoning behind the name, I'm not going to do so._  
 _Second of all, if the above was 'yes', what was the name of the golden figure as well as the large figure behind you all?_  
 _Three, who made the big guy behind you possible? Was that your doing after you appeared to break the chains attached between you and the winged red figure near you during the fight? The timing seemed to fit._  
  
 _Since this is three questions, you are allowed to ask me two more to even this out, if you choose to do so. Let me know your answers either by coming to the Faculty Office or by writing it down and asking one of the teachers to hand it to me after school. Either way, I'm gonna be in the Faculty Office for at least an hour, so take your time._  
  
Admittedly not fully paying attention to class, which related to mathematics that he already knew from his previous year in Suijin, Akira pulled out a sheet of paper and began to write his response. Considering she did give an honest answer in response to his question, despite not wanting to, it was at least fair to answer these.  
  
Though, now that he looked at the note again, the fact that what he assumed to be his codename did not seem to be written in any form of kanji had him wondering if Merino-san even knew how the word would be written in Japanese. This did show him how it would appear in the English language, however. A small bonus, he figured, for curiosity's sake.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Akira ultimately decided to actually go to the Faculty Office, thankful that his particular room was on the first floor, which meant he didn't have far to walk on his leg. Trying to write out the answers both made it look like he had been taking notes in his class and helped him figure out both his answers to give as well as possible questions.  
  
Problem was, he only had one question figured out for sure. The other he hoped to emerge on its own. And if it doesn't...  
  
...Akira hoped he could take his time on it and ask at a later date.  
  
He saw as Merino-san stood up, grabbing her back of things before walking up to him. The bag she used caught his attention, surprised that a teacher made use of backpacks such as that, especially one that looked like it could be used to roll on the ground when needed.  
  
"Hey, it would mean you'd have to do a little more walking, but I think I have a better place in mind for the question and answer exchange."  
  
Akira winced at the thought of more walking as he watched her grab something near the door before allowing him to use her arm as a brace, to help him keep the weight on his leg minimal, despite the fact that he was clearly taller than her by roughly a half a foot. He found himself wondering if this was something she did frequently, considering his teacher didn't seem to view this as odd in the slightest.  
  
"...when did this school have elevators?"  
  
"It ended up having to be built midway into last year, from my understanding." Akira looked up at the teacher confused for a few moments before looking back towards the elevator as she slid what looked like a card into the reader next to the silver doors. A few seconds passed before the red light above the reader moved to the yellow light underneath it, then finally the green. Upon the green light brightening did the doors open up, allowing the Colonel, with Akira in tow, to enter the elevator. "It's primarily used for wheelchair-bound students, though other students can get temporary permission to use it, depending on circumstance."  
  
"...also, I have one final question for you, and it's admittedly one I should have asked first. Your answer may or may not void the other questions I had written." Akira looked down to see her looking up towards him.  
  
"Why did you ask about that day of all things? It seems like a random thing to ask about, especially since you shouldn't have known about it...unless you had a hand in making those odd events happen."  
  
Once they were out of the elevator, Akira watched as Merino-san looked either direction before closing her eyes behind her wire-framed glasses and just listened. "...sounds like the floor's empty. Which means I can get away with this."  
  
"Get away wi---?!" Without warning or provocation, Akira was suddenly lifted off his legs in a literal sense, his leg no longer pounding from having to put weight on it due to being suddenly lifted up bridal-style. He could feel the red covering his entire face in embarrassment at this. "M-M-Merino-san...?!"  
  
"School's over, you don't have to stay formal now." She started walking towards the entrance to the rooftop with no effort on her part in carrying him, as if he was virtually weightless to her, only putting him down so she could get the door unlocked and opened. "After you."  
  
He was never going to question her Strength after that...  
  
Strength...  
  
Once he was sitting on one of the benches that often sat up here, he looked up towards her as she put her backpack on the ground, wincing only as she rubbed her back before sitting down as well. "So, got an answer for me, Akira?"  
  
"..."  
  
He was looking down upon the ground in thought, his left elbow resting on his knee while his right arm stayed to his side. He wasn't sure if he should give an answer, honestly. He almost felt as if he was being interrogated...though if he was, he wouldn't been in the light of the sun. That thought had him looking up towards said celestial body, not directly at it, but just close enough to let its light hit his face.  
  
"...I was wondering if what happened in Tokyo was limited to just there or if the events had night had spread into other parts of the world. I guess it did."  
  
"...so in other words...I wasn't smashed enough to just imagine those events on my own." Akira shook her head before she leaned back slightly at this. " _Still_ not going to touch the drink after that, but this also explains why I still remember it clearly...especially after hearing that one song every so often on the radio."  
  
"Song?"  
  
Merino-san, Abigail, nodded at this before looking back towards him. "I don't know how good you are with the English language, but if you or any of your friends who are good with the language or even fluent, look up the song 'Untraveled Road' by Thousand Foot Krutch."  
  
She crossed one leg over the other, not unlike that of a guy doing the same, before leaning forwards towards Akira. "From what I have heard of the Phantom Thieves, especially since coming here, I'd say the song fits you folks, little Joker."


	9. Song of Rebellion

<<Akira:  
Hey, Ann, I have a question for you.>> Taking advantage of the fact that Morgana ever so kindly dusted off the group for the Phantom Thieves, Akira decided to make use of it as he laid in bed back home, already dressed out of his uniform and into more comfortable clothes.  
  
_You should be prepared to use even_ myself _, or your ambitions will not come to fruition._  
  
Akira winced as the line from the past echoed in his head unprovoked, unsure of what could have caused it to make itself heard.  
  
<<Ann:  
Yeah, what's up?>>  
  
<<Akira:  
My teacher brought up an odd song while talking with me about something. Can you look it up and tell me what it's about?>>  
  
<<Ann:  
What's the song?>>  
  
<<Akira:  
She said it was 'Untraveled Road' by a band called Thousand Foot Krutch. She also mentioned it was an English song.>>  
  
<<Makoto:  
Akira, is this teacher in question a native English speaker?>> Akira raised an eyebrow at Makoto's out-there question before responding to it.  
  
<<Akira:  
Yeah, she is. Merino-san's both my homeroom and English teacher here.>>  
  
<<Ann:  
I found the song, but...why did she brought it up?>>  
  
Akira sat on this question for a few minutes as he laid there, taking advantage of the fact that he wasn't putting any weight on his leg. Twitching his right foot subconsciously, he flinched from the moment of pain before it faded away again.  
  
It made him wonder if this was anything like how Ryuji felt when his leg was broken by Kamoshida, though Akira shook that thought out of his head for the moment.  
  
<<Akira:  
You're not going to believe this...but I found out for sure that Mementos overlapped the entire world on Christmas. She blamed it on getting smashed, but Merino-san remembers what happened that Christmas despite being on the other side of the world.>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
WHAT?!>> Akira winced for a different reason, unfortunately envisioning his friend shouting that right next to him.  
<<Dude, do you know what all she saw or how?!>>  
  
<<Akira:  
According to her, her electronics started acting weird, then displayed the tag end of the battle between us and Yaldabaoth, specifically just before Satanael blew off his head. Apparently, she was doing a Q&A thing in homeroom, where she was letting everyone ask her a question she had to answer honestly in exchange for her asking a question of that student that had to be answered honestly. She admitted to seeing that in front of the entire class during lunch and swore it was because she got smashed, her words.>>  
  
<<Ann:  
I found the original lyrics to the song in question and I can see why this song could help her keep the memory of that battle.>> Akira raised an eyebrow at this.  
<<This isn't the full lyrics, but I can see this part of the chorus being a big part of her remembering it.>>  
<<So stand up, shout it out, and put ‘em in the air if you like it loud  
We only got one shot, so let’s make it count, it’s a take down, nobody can stop us now  
Stand up, shout it out, sing it loud, so the world can’t drown us out  
And before we depart, let’s leave a mark ‘cause light shines brighter in the dark.>>  
  
<<Yusuke:  
When you consider what we were doing, that particular section makes sense.>> A smirk crept up onto his face upon seeing the message from Yusuke.  
<<In a sense, the heists we have done has caused a light to illuminate in the hearts we have changed.>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
...my mind is blown.>>  
  
Akira couldn't help but shoot a remark to that.  
  
<<Akira:  
Not a hard feat, Ryuji.>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
HEY! You're supposed to be on my side!>>  
  
<<Akira:  
I didn't know there were sides.>> A grin creeped onto his face, envisioning Ryuji getting absolutely livid with him.  
  
"You alright?" Akira turned his head to see Morgana poking his head into the room, a worried look in his blue eyes. "You haven't been yourself lately..."  
  
"I'm alright...now." The last word was almost an afterthought to get Morgana to calm down, prompting the cat to hop onto the bed. Still holding the phone above his head, Akira started to work on typing another message...  
  
...but before he could hit the first symbol, the lights in his eyes suddenly died and his arms fell to either side of him, allowing the phone to fall over the bed's edge and onto the floor, thankfully not cracking in the process.  
  
He didn't hear Morgana calling his name or react to the sudden backpedaling of paws from his chest to his stomach as he blacked out with eyes wide open.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Akira's awareness returned to him within the unusual cell while loud sirens blared, still bound to the metal cot he was on. Remembering the pain he put his neck, he decided not to turn onto his side this time, but he still tried to look out towards the cell door to see what was happening.  
  
What he saw stunned him.  
  
Bound by chains far heavier than any he's worn, even in the Velvet Room, he saw a version of the Joker being forced into an empty cell oposite of himself by shadowed version of SWAT officers, only catching the fact that this particular Joker was silenced by a ball gag during one of the times that he turned to try biting one of the hands that pushed him into the cell anyway.  
  
The Joker he saw was fighting, desperately, to get free despite being silenced, bound and pushed around, he was still fighting with utter ferocity in the same gray eyes he had, despite almost all of his face turning black, blue and red. And that's just what was visible of the skin. He was doing everything in his power to fight for freedom. Swinging the heavy chains of his arms to try and topple those who held him down only to usually come close to toppling himself, swinging his legs to try and sweep or cheapshot those near him only to have his legs stopped by the extreme weights on him. Even trying to elbow and headbutt those around him to get some leverage, any leverage.  
  
...and here he was laying here, having grown...used...to his situation. Much like the forced imprisonment he suffered in the Velvet Room before its real master was restored as. Remembering the wish for freedom and growling under his breath at the thought that he was actually starting to _accept_ what was happening to him, Akira tried to fight off the chains and metal that held him bound, but to no apparent avail. He felt weak-willed compared to the Joker, who was showing himself to be a feral beast that absolutely _refused_ imprisonment of all kinds.  
  
Then he heard a muffled scream, causing Akira to focus back on the source, his eyes widening as he saw one of them had their hand balled up against the Joker's forcibly-exposed neck, the top part of a syringe in view as the fight was slowly forced out of him. After a few minutes of constantly struggling, the Joker finally stopped moving before falling to his knees, falling unconscious against his will as the syringe was pulled out of his neck.  
  
"Bind him and strip him. Make sure he has no way to escape and absolutely no room to move." He saw the Shadow-eyed Joker walk into view at this point, the three-tailed coat having shifted in color to an off-yellow white to tell the two apart. "To think he tried breaking out fully and almost succeeded...well, we know where most of the escape points in this heart are now." Akira narrowed his eyes just enough to barely see and still look like he's sleeping as the Shadow-eyed Joker turned around, the white coat's three tails swishing around as he did.  
  
"Don't bother pretending, if you've manifested, you're fully aware of what's going on." He looked past the faker as a loud rip caught his ears, catching sight of fabric being forced off his thief persona in the other cell. It didn't take long before only the red gloves and white mask remained on him. The gloves were removed with ease. The mask, however...  
  
...even three officers combining their strength could not make it budge.  
  
"Gah, I guess it's true that only the mask wearer can remove it. Leave it be, and make sure he's secured." Looking back towards him, the Shadow's yellow eyes met with his gray ones. "Well, after seeing that, looks like you aren't going anywhere for a while..."  
  
Akira really did not like the implications of that statement. Once the Shadows and the imposter Joker left him be for a while, locking the cell behind them. Akira tried to turn his head to better look at the aftermath.  
  
Not only was this thief persona battered and bruised in every location he could see from his position, he was seeing a pool of blood forming under the imprisoned Joker, causing him to suspect that there was a decent gash on his back that was being allowed to fester on its own from lack of care. For his double's sake, Akira hoped and prayed under his breath that Joker was far more resilient than he could ever be while the two were separate. The way the Joker was slowly becoming increasingly pale wasn't helping his nerves, though...


	10. Broken Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be perfectly honest, I'm writing this by the seat of my pants. Even I don't know how this is going to end.
> 
> SO!
> 
> Feel free to theorize in the comments in regards to various aspects in the story. Such theories could potentially help in the future writing of this bird's story. Who knows, you might point out something that I may not have thought of, which can (usually) affect a future chapter in a positive way.

"W-w-what is this?!" Morgana had wound up backpawing on Akira's chest when he suddenly started seeing a glow from the center of his chest, causing him to shake his head. "Now, I know something's wrong! Akira! Joker! Wake up!"  
  
A lack of response had Morgana panicking as he tried shaking the young man back into wakefulness. Even literally jumping on his stomach repeatedly was getting nothing, when he knew full well this would have normally gotten him launched before the kid was fully awake. "No, no no, not again."  
  
"...us go, bas..." There was an audible snarl in what managed to get out of his otherwise unmoving mouth, the words more breathed than spoken. "...off, Yal---" Words were suddenly cut off, as if something was placed in his mouth with a large amount of force. Akira began to toss and turn, limbs flailing around as it sounded like he strained to scream against an invisible gag before slowly becoming more and more subdued, finally laying limp against the bed.  
  
Quick to make sure that Akira was breathing and still had a pulse, both of them definitely checking out well, Morgana cracked the door open to make sure to keep an ear out for Akira's mother. Once that was done, he hopped onto Akira's computer and immediately began typing away.  
  
<<Akira:  
NOW I KNOW something's wrong with Akira for sure!>>  
  
To his surprise, Futaba was the first to start to respond.  
  
<<Futaba:  
I just heard through the bug in his phone. It sounded like he tried saying something and was stopped midway.>>  
<<Were his sentences not so broken, I'd have a better read on what he was saying.>>  
  
A lightbulb popped into Morgana's head before responding back,  
<<Akira:  
Hey, did you catch anything else from that bug?>>  
  
<<Futaba:  
Outside of hearing for myself how his teacher literally swept him off his legs earlier?>> Morgana double-took on that, glancing back at Akira before returning his gaze to the screen.  
<<I don't think she's got feelings for him, though. As she said, there's no need to be formal once school's over. I do wonder how she knew of his codename, though.>>  
  
"Argh..." Morgana groaned at the momentary sidetrack before continuing to type.  
<<Akira:  
Enough of that, Joker won't wake up!>>  
<<When I hopped onto him after he suddenly blacked out, his chest started glowing some shade of gold!>>  
  
<<Yusuke:  
Gold?>> That word had perked up Yusuke's attention.  
<<Did you see exactly how the light seemed to display itself? If it gives a clue as to what's wrong, you must remember.>>  
  
<<Haru:  
I'm sorry for being so busy, but would anyone please update me on what's going on?>> Haru had shown up, causing Morgana to gulp before typing away.  
  
<<Akira:  
That's what I'm trying to figure out. Ever since he came here, he has been acting in odd ways, with even his body appearing to shut down at random times-->>  
  
"Akira, I'm home!"  
  
<<Akira:  
Sorry, someone else is going to have to fill you in, his mother showed up! I'm getting him to the hospital!>>  
  
Morgana launched himself from the desk to the door, running down the stairs while letting out the most-panicked set of 'meows' he could muster.  
  
"You really are a noisy cat, Morgana...hm?" He managed to get her to see him pointing up towards Akira's room with paw, tail and head, motioning for her to follow him. Almost as if she remembered the cat doing this before, the woman made a beeline upstairs after the cat.  
  
Morgana hopped onto the bed, seeing that tears had fallen from Akira's open eyes. Had the kid managed to cry while out cold? "Akira! No, not again!" Forced to move over, the woman tried desperately to shake her son awake, getting no response at all. "No, no..."  
  
As she pulled out her phone to call the ambulance, Morgana hopped onto the computer desk once more, minimizing the chat and opening up a text program, the sounds of his typing catching her attention.  
  
Once she looked up, Morgana had managed to type out a single sentence.  
  
_Let me come with you, I'm worried about Akira, too!_  
  
"...you can...?" She continued to speak to the person on the other line, trying to keep calm while keeping looking between the screen and her son. She watched Morgana type, the sentences clear to anyone that this wasn't an act.  
  
_Yes, I can, but that's not the point! Akira suddenly blacked out while texting his friends. No idea why and I was watching when it happened._ He wasn't going to mention the glow to her, the poor lady was panicked enough as is.  
  
"..." Once done with the phone, she looked towards Akira, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "I don't know if any I've done has caused this...but please come back." Lowering her head to bring it closer to his chest, she was crying tears into his chest, hoping that her only child wouldn't end up slipping away from her.  
  
Lifting her head, she raised a hand to close Akira's eyes, seeing them open while he was like this disturbing her. She looked up toward Morgana, tears still in eyes, who waited still near the computer. "I'm sorry, but for this first trip, I can't afford to bring you. I can see about sneaking you in another time, alright?"  
  
She was clearly disturbed about talking to a cat, even if he could respond in a visual and recordable way, but Morgana could tell she was trying to hang on to whatever hope she could about potentially getting her son back. And so, he simply nodded, raising his head as the sound of knocking became heard.  
  
Once Akira was taken to the hospital by ambulance, Morgana found himself curling up on the center of the bed, a few tears shed as he felt helpless in regards to their leader's predicament.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A 'bloop!' awoke him from the light nap Morgana unwittingly passed out into, still trying to figure out when he fell out of awareness of reality. Thankfully, it didn't seem that long ago that Akira was taken to the hospital. Another 'bloop' became heard from Akira's computer, prompting the cat to hop up onto the desk.  
  
He found himself glad he did do so upon seeing Ryuji's recent messages.  
  
<<Ryuji:  
This is BULLSHIT!>>  
<<Almost as soon as the guy's in the ER, there's a media swarm about him possibly being in a coma!>>  
  
"...what?" Morgana pulled up one of the news programs he sometimes sees Akira use since coming back to keep track of Tokyo, eyes immediately landing upon the offending culprit behind the unnatural blonde's outburst.  
  
_Former Leader of Phantom Thieves in Coma! Reason Currently Under Investigation_  
  
<<Akira:  
It's like these people are desperate for any news they can get their hands on!>> Morgana managed to reply, despite wanting to shout the outrage himself.  
  
<<Haru:  
...why does Akira always seem to have the worst of luck in regards to events like this?>> Morgana had a paw stop in mid-air in thought to Haru's question.  
<<For the past year and more, it seems like everything that has odds of 'winning' or 'succeeding' in has been stacked against him in one way or another. It's not fair.>>  
  
<<???:  
No, it is not fair.>>  
  
<<Futaba:  
!! Did someone hack the chat?! That's my job!>>  
  
<<???:  
No, I have no skill in such, it takes all my concentration to communicate in such a manner. Lavenza is such a great aid in the handling of technology that I still need to learn for the sake of future guests, however.>>  
  
Morgana's jaw dropped, unable to pick it up at the line of text in front of him. There was no image to indicate whom it was, but the wording...  
  
<<Akira:  
...M-m-master? H-how are you...?!>>  
  
<<???:  
Worry not, Morgana, I have my ways.>>  
<<There is, however, a reason I am reaching you all through this medium.>>  
<<The rules of the Game have been broken.>>  
  
<<Yusuke:  
Game?>>  
  
<<Ryuji:  
The hell you mean by 'Game'? Are you toying with Akira's life?!>>  
  
<<???:  
Believe me, I may not be vulgar in my words, but I am as furious as all of you.>>  
<<I could have forgiven what Yaldabaoth did to the Velvet Room, myself and my assistant, since He still had not directly broken any of the rules, only bent them as far as could be allowed. And bend them, He certainly did. None of us were irreparably harmed.>>  
<<But forcing Himself to remain in existence and to force the creation of a Palace that would have been normally impossible?>>  
<<Lavenza and myself no longer have to follow the rules in regards to this. We are both fully willing to aid in your endeavors regarding this trial.>>  
  
<<Yusuke:  
...force the creation of a Palace that would have normally be impossible?>> Yusuke repeated that specific line, which prompted Morgana's attention to it as well.  
<<The only way I know of that would make the appearance of a Palace impossible...>>  
  
<<???:  
...is the existence of a Persona in that person's heart.>>  
<<This rule, in addition to many others, have been **broken**. >>  
  
Morgana broke into a cold sweat under his fur, reading over Igor's last line over and over again. Breathing heavy, he reached to begin to type, but it seemed that another beat him to it, specifically Futaba.  
  
<<Futaba:  
No way! But the only Persona users are us!>>  
  
Morgana looked over towards Akira's empty bed, paws shaking as he typed.  
  
<<Akira:  
...I think I know who the Palace ruler is.>>  
<<But, I beg you, Master, please tell me that's not the case.>>  
  
<<???:  
Unfortunately, your fear is correct, Morgana.>>  
<<The Palace 'ruler' in this case...is the Trickster himself.>>  
  
Morgana really did not like how the word ruler was in air quotes...


	11. Eavesdrop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had a week of hell. Went to the ER to deal with the pain that a tooth was causing long enough so I could actually eat for once (the pain flipped both fingers and middle toes to the pain scale, I was hitting 20 at least twice, and the scale tops at 10). Became shocked that the painkiller started wearing off after 10 minutes despite it supposed to be lasting for 4-6 hours. Had to practically grovel to my dad to help me pay to remove the tooth causing the pain (impacted wisdom tooth...and I was once told that I had room in my mouth for all eight wisdom teeth, pfft). Pain spiked for a few hours after the tooth was removed, but once it was done hurting, I could finally eat...
> 
> So, yeah, the ghost pains I still have (I think I've done some nerve damage with how long I've been unable to remove that problem tooth) are enough to slow me down, but not stop me from working on this. I'm still recovering from that, but I'm still focusing on this (and partially using this as a focus to not focus on my jaw, hehe).
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~

The Colonel did not go to school the next day after seeing the news, remembering the reason why she had the students she did in her homeroom. Instead, she called up to the Faculty Office and asked if one of the teachers could instead write up a note for future teachers to see and, if needed, remind the students of her homeroom what can possibly happen if they step out of line.  
  
When asked about what to tell the class if students tried to misbehave, she told them to tell the students this, "Remember yesterday and know the same can happen if I catch wind of it."  
  
Considering Abigail slammed both a major bully in the school as well as the known leader of the Phantom Thieves against the wall in unison, even if she was doing so to also snap the latter out of what looked to her like a panic attack, in front of the entire class without a second thought, the militant lady figured it should be enough to keep them behaving...at least when there was another teacher in the class.  
  
Unfortunately for her...  
  
...seeing him was proving to be quite the pain in the ass.  
  
"...you'd think the hospital would have shooed away the press for the sake of the patient by this point," she growled to herself in English, dressed in a black turtleneck shirt that was thicker than the average shirt worn during such a month and black dress pants that were better suited on a guy. "At least leave room for the damned doctors to do their work."  
  
Not that Abigail ever cared about gender norms on clothing. The ones often made for the guys are more often and not more practical, comfortable, sturdier and cheaper.  
  
And that suited her just fine.  
  
Her hair was let out of its long braid and just held in a normal ponytail, revealing it to end closer to the middle of her upper calf instead of at her waist, a thought that amused her considering that she would have had to snip all the hair she couldn't keep in a tight bun back home. Pushing up her wire-framed glasses with thickened lenses, she started fiddling with the one piece of jewelry she wore, a gold chain necklace with a chibi western dragon colored by onyx with citrine for the visible underwings. She couldn't help but think back to younger times when looking at it, and almost missed the call for visitors.  
  
"Oh, shit," she muttered to herself before standing up and running up towards the nurse that held open the door to the rest of the ER. "Sorry, was caught up in my thoughts," she responded in Japanese, a sheepish look on her face.  
  
"It's alright, Merino-san."  
  
The trip to the room that the boy was quiet. Abigail could tell the nurse leading her had a question on her lips, but probably was too afraid to ask. Not an unusual response from anyone dealing with a foreigner like herself, sadly. It was something she had to grow used to and fast, fortunately, her obvious military experience allowed her to at least cause many to keep silent many of the vicious things most natives would say to or around her.  
  
Though obviously not all held such wisdom, she thought to herself as she recalled yesterday during lunch. Blowing air out her nose, the nurse stopped before a partially-closed door, catching the sight of messy black hair that stuck out among all the white. "Thank you, I'll see myself in." Wincing as she tried to politely bow, she only managed a small one before pain shot up her back. Thankfully, the nurse didn't look at her as if she was being rude and bowed in politeness before walking rather briskly out of her earshot.  
  
"...this damned country's a pain," she muttered to herself, slipping back into English as she wished she was back home in the states as she walked into the room, greeted fully to the sight of her student already changed into hospital garb and laying in bed, with various tubes attached to him, such as an IV and a...  
  
...she was pretty damned sure that if Akira woke up anytime soon, he was not going to appreciate having a catheter in him, which netted a chuckle from the soldier at the mental image. Thankfully, it looked to her like he was still able to breathe on his own, so there was no sight of a tube either down his throat or the signs of a tracheotomy having been done on his throat. He did have a breathing mask over his mouth and nose, though.  
  
"Barely seventeen and you're already stuck like this. Makes me pity any youth that has life threaten to exit on them before adulthood." Abigail sat down in one of the seats next to the bed, pulling it up so that she did not have to lean forward to be near the kid. "What's sad is that there's several people back home would w relieved to see you like this, President Trump included," she muttered to herself, a snarl under her breath at the thought of adults trying to find more about the youth of the world to better break and exploit them. Leaning back fully, she pulled out her cell phone, the one she kept active despite being in an entirely different nation and dialed a number. Bringing it to an ear, she closed her eyes and fully laid back in her chair, waiting for the phone to be answered.  
  
"...please tell me it's worth calling me this late at nig---"  
  
"Joker appears to be in a coma."  
  
Silence fell on the other side of the line before hearing the sudden shift of weight signifying the quick getting up and out of bed.  
  
"What happened? Any identifiable reason?"  
  
"Dunno yet, but it already made big news over here almost as soon as he was in the hospital. Even Japan isn't immune to the parasites that the news medias have become." Clearing her throat after the remark, she took a second to reign back in the continued need to snark before continuing to speak. "I know you sent me overseas to keep an eye on him in addition to other things, but I suspect foul play by an unseen hand." Glancing towards the boy then to the door to make sure no one came in that would understand English, she continued. "I just hope this isn't related to what happened yesterday."  
  
"Yesterday?"  
  
"Mr. Kurusu was displaying signs of a PTSD attack during lunch. I...admittedly had one of my own flashbacks because of it."  
  
"...Colonel Merino, you _idiot_!" Wincing at the outburst, it wound up continuing on the militant. "You are supposed to find out exactly how Christmas was made possible so we can find a way to make use of it, not kill him! He's our only clue we have on the Persona phenomenon, and that's only because of that one confession he was made to do far before that day!"  
  
"I realize that, sir," she responded, a sigh escaping her breath. "I'll try to find out what's really going on before judgement becomes called."  
  
"You'd better! You risk being dishonorably discharged as well as being called into a general court-martial for this...and who knows what will happen to your siblings because of that!" A click heard from the phone, she hung it up as well before pocketting it to prevent herself from throwing the flip-phone. It had done nothing wrong, but the face she had envisioned herself throwing it at, though...  
  
Covering her face with her hands as she remained leaning back, she let loose a groan of frustration. "This nation and kid will be the end of me, I swear..." After a few minutes, she stood up and walked out, hoping to get intel as to what happened.  
  
She didn't see poking out of the cabinet with most the medical supplies a little black nose attached to a white face once she was mostly out of the room.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Did you get that, Futaba," Morgana asked, peeking out upon hearing the Colonel leaving, worry on his muzzle before glancing back at the phone near him.  
  
<<Futaba:  
Yeah, I did. Get the phone attached to a charger for the time being and I'll see about getting Ann to make understand of what she said. It was a stroke of luck she made that call, I was able to record all but the first thirty seconds of that conversation after picking up and focusing on her cell's signal.>>  
  
"You're not going to get in trouble for this, right?"  
  
<<Futaba:  
No, the teachers have noticed that I do better in class with my computer at hand. As long as I have it closed when asked things and out of view during exams, I'm good.>> Morgana was really glad Futaba managed to recently make a special speech-to-text program for things like this, turning his meows into understandable text. What started as a pet project for personal curiosity turned out as a useful tool in the end.  
  
Glancing down at Akira's phone, he carefully picked it up in his muzzle before quickly hopping out and hopping into a bag left near Akira's bed. Dropping the phone into the bag for the moment, he took advantage of the fact that these hospital rooms tended to have quite a lot of plugs and plugged the phone charger into a wall socket level with him. Diving into the bag, he carefully put the charger cord into the phone with his tail before settling into the bag, zipping himself up, but leaving himself enough of an opening to stick his tail back out and unzip.  
  
"I still wonder how she knows of his codename. And it sounds like she's not the only one." A sigh released from his muzzle, a minor grumble echoed in his stomach that caused him to wince. As much as it sucked, he wished he had brought with him some of the dried cat food Akira's mother tried to have him eat. Would be better than nothing, at least...


	12. Arrival and Bombshell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 15 total chapters written thus far and I'm only now putting up the 12th...probably a good thing I'm doing it this way, because I had to rework one of the unpublished chapters. But yeah, I finished writing up the 15th chapter, so you guys are getting #12 now.

By the time that the rest of the Thieves were able to come up to Shizuoka, it was the Saturday night they had all agreed to come over, crashing in various ways in the van. The following morning, Futaba had traced the exact location that Akira had been moved to, to Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital. Following after them upon leaving the vehicle they shared was one woman that looked around with a pensive look on her face, the general goth punk appearance of her attire almost clashing with the kids ahead of her.  
  
"...I hear that this particular hospital is a rather expensive one. I fear what may become of the bill such a stay would end up gaining," Haru wondered with concern. "I do not know how well off Akira and his family truly are."  
  
"I just hope I can do something to help lessen his stay in medical care, maybe even wake him somehow." Running a red-nailed hand through dark-blue hair clipped into a bob-cut, the oldest among them found her brownish-red eyes looking down towards the ground in thought.  
  
"I'm sure you can find a way, Takemi-san. Considering the past year, you probably know him better than any of the doctors in there."  
  
A ghost of a smile appeared on the corner of the doctor's mouth as she recalled the last time she saw him before the metaphorical black-and-blue disaster he had become after being brought into her clinic the day after Valentine's...  
  
_"By the way, how have I been doing? Have I been helpful?" Akira looked up from the coffee he was stirring with a spoon in front of him to look at her, an eyebrow raised out of curiosity. Granting only a nod, she continued with her words. "...for your escapades with the Phantom Thieves, I mean."_  
  
_Akira had made the mistake of drinking from his coffee before she started speaking, causing him to almost choke as the realization of what she said kicked in. "Um, what?" He knew he was going to have to clean up the mess his little spit-take ended up making, but that could be taken care of momentarily._  
  
_A smirk of her own ghosted over Tae's face before letting out a gasp in mock-annoyance. "...come on. You and I both know that you were lying about needing to prepare for the entrance exams. I visited Oyamada in jail." Taking a second to take a drink of her coffee, she looked up back towards him, gray meeting brown. "A swing of fortune like that could have only come at the hands of the Phantom Thieves."_  
  
_She could see him squirming in place. Anyone unfamiliar with how the boy worked would have thought he was just staring at her like she was insane with his cool expression, but she could see the way both his forearms and lower legs almost-imperceptively moved on their own. "And to have it happen when it did..." A knowing smile appeared on her face. "Isn't it the only logical conclusion to think that it's you?"_  
  
_Silence hung between the two for a minute. The whole time, the doctor could practically see the gears in his head turning, and she had a very good idea just how fast they can turn after one particular test she did while he was out cold from her experimental drugs._  
  
_"...so what if it's true," was the question finally asked of her._  
  
_"A normal person would probably..." She purposely waited for a few seconds, allowing the air to hang, making him squirm some more in his minute ways. "...notify the police."_ Smile _still planted on her face, the doctor looked away before shaking her head. "Well, I don't care," she continued with a shrug from her shoulders._  
  
_Shooting a sidelong glance at him, she could see that he had not removed his gaze from her, marking another point in her head for his attentiveness. "The point is that without you, I wouldn't have been able to complete my mission. I would've never finished the new medication...while I was being deceived by Oyamada." At this point, she looked back down towards the counter, though the young man was still in her vision. "And I would've never met any of the townspeople..."_  
  
_She chuckled to herself after the feeling that the conversation was becoming one-sided floated through her head, though she had noticed that it was because this kid often allowed this to be the case. Always willing to listen when others needed an ear. "I bet the Phantom Thieves save people in need, just like doctors do, eh?"_  
  
_This finally had Akira looking back down towards his coffee, making no other motion towards it. However, the slight darkening of his eyes was only visible at a side view of him, she noticed. One of many facial expressions that, if viewed head on, would be near impossible to pick up on from him. "So, I'll go out on a limb for you." His head turned back towards her slightly, knowing she had his curiosity. "I'll have even more powerful medicine ready for you..." A sly smirk finally appeared on her face. "You are my boyfriend, after all. You'll use the medicine correctly, won't you?"_  
  
_A wordless nod from him and she started wondering how to finally break that near-silence of his, and so looked around to get a better look at the cafe around her. "Hey...this is where you live, right? Where's your room? Upstairs? ...is your guardian home?" She had to tilt her head back to see his expression, but she did catch the eyebrow raise on his face. A typical sign of his trying to puzzle her and other people out. A cautious shake of the head was the only answer he gave after the last question, and the plan to break his silence began to form._  
  
_"Then..." she turned her head back fully towards him. "it's just the two of us?" A nod at the question and a mischevious grin fell on her face. "Really...then would you like a "thorough examination"?"_  
  
_The other eyebrow joined in on the attempt of merging with his_ hairline, _before they lowered as he finally mirrored her smile with his own sideways smirk, realization likely crossing his mind. "Yes, please." Knowing that even Akira could still succumb to the sway of hormones, she began to lean into him, a few teeth now in her grin upon realizing just how to make him less quiet. "I guess I'll start off by examining your eyes... I'll just have to... take my time...examining...you." As she spoke, her voice became softer and slower. The proximity had her just close enough to hear his heart trying to race from this alone. "...hm?"_  
  
_After the kiss the two shared upon her standing up and claiming Akira's mouth with her own, surprising Akira by using some of the quirks she learned about his body against him to keep him physically, if not mentally, submissive to her needs, the transfer to his upstairs bedroom was soon followed_ with _repeated successful attempts to break the silence of the night with his own cries of pleasure..._  
  
_Mission complete, she thought to herself then..._  
  
"Yes, yes, I do know him better than anyone else," she repeated, keeping the smirk that wanted to creep onto her face off of it. "I just hope that such knowledge proves useful."  
  
"We all do," Makoto added, a heavy tone in her voice.  
  
The thieves and the doctor ended up taking an hour to get information on Akira's room, though it was not through any fault of their own. Strangely enough, there was at least one police officer guarding his hospital room, a sight that netted a low growl from one of the males of their number.  
  
"Dammit, how long as it been," Ryuji almost snarled, trying not to be heard from the end of the hallway. "He's been out since before Valentine's and they _still_ won't cut him a break."  
  
The bag that Ann was holding over her shoulder shook for a moment before a white-tipped tail poked out to unzip it, an act soon followed up by a little black nose poking out. "It's not fair, but it seems like it's going to be that way for whom knows how long," Morgana said with a tone of sympathy. Hearing the sounds of boots, Morgana turned momentarily towards the source before pulling his head back in.  
  
The woman in black approaching their general direction was muttering in a language only one really understood, head hanging down in thought. Most of them looked up, catching sight of the newcomer stopping in front of the room they found to be Akira's. "G'evening, officers," she stated, bowing only at the neck. "Seeking permission to visit the patient."  
  
"You are...Merino Abigail, yes," one of the two officers asked her, to which she nodded.  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
Silence fell between the two officers, both looking at each other before one moved away from the card reader, sliding a card through it and hearing a click from the door. "Feel free to enter, Merino-san."  
  
"Thank you very much," bowing once again with only her head, the woman entered the room before closing the door after herself, the door automatically locking itself from outside access.  
  
"...who'd think that America would be willing to send one of their own overseas for a kid like that?"  
  
"Hey, would you rather our government risk one of our own soldiers?" An amused chuckle was gained from that before they resumed their posts, neither of them acknowledging their group.  
  
"Well, this is quite the predicament," Yusuke remarked upon seeing the display. "It would seem we somehow need permission from the...Ann?" Yusuke had turned just in time to see the shocked look on Ann's face, who was still staring at the last place she last saw the foreigner.  
  
"...we...we need to go someplace private."  
  
Ryuji turned towards her at this. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Just...let's go." Ann turned towards Dr. Takemi with a sad look, catching the doctor's curiosity. "I'm sorry, but you wouldn't understand what I'm talking about."  
  
"...is this related to Phantom Thieves business?" A nod from Ann was all she got before watching the blonde try to push the others into a more private area. Akira had once informed them that the doctor figured out that at least he was a part of the Phantom Thieves on her own. Cautious and curious, she followed them while being careful to be unseen. Once she found them in a secluded area within the hospital, the doctor heard a line from Ann that almost made her own heart stop.  
  
"That woman said something about hating that she's having to try turning Akira into a living weapon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arceus-damn, slightly regretting writing The Worst Time, because that thing's demanding additional chapters...even though it was meant to be a one-shot to get it OUT of my head. How many of you have had that feeling when, once you post something up as a one-shot, it feels like it NEEDS to be expanded? And I've already got a scheme of an idea for either a Persona 5/Shadowrun -OR- Persona 5/PTU (Pokemon Tabletop United, link: http://pokemontabletop.com/) crossover in the works once I'm done with One Last Show, too...
> 
> Since both deal with a similar premise, feel free to cast a vote to see which one you want pulled off in addition to your comment. The options in full are below.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Title: Duality  
> Source Materials: Persona 5/Shadowrun  
> Summary: The original Phantom Thieves have long been dead and the Sixth World has already been in full swing. However, the spirit of the Thieves lives on in one soul that inherits both the name and closest ally of the original Joker of Hearts.
> 
> This wouldn't be an issue, however, if something wasn't happening to distort this fact.  
> Note: This deals with time travel.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Title: The Joker's Phantom  
> Source Materials: Persona 5/PTU (Pokemon Tabletop United)  
> Summary: The arrest goes not quite as planned. Not only is Akira not arrested alone after the incident at the casino, he soon realizes that he's not the only Joker in existance.
> 
> Thing is, this other Joker...or should he say Phantom...scares even him.  
> Note: This one deals with dimension hopping.


	13. Bearer of Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a new chapter written, but it is shy of a week. So, a new chapter for everyone.

Despite what was injected into him a while ago, Joker began to slowly stir from his forced slumber, hands twitching as he suppressed a groan of pain from trying to breathe. Every place he could feel on his body hurt to the point that even he could not ignore the pain for long and he felt the wetness leaking from his back from the cheapshot someone got near his lungs.  
  
Thankfully, the shot missed its ultimate target, but gods, did he hurt everywhere. He even had the sneaking suspicion that he was currently whiter than the mask on his face, a thought that had him attempting a single chuckle before instantly regretting it with pain in his head and lungs. He did make a mental note to have a few 'sharp' words with the particular bastard that tried to shank him, preferably with his favored blade...once he found out where that weapon flew off to in the chaotic brawl, that is.  
  
He made an attempt to move one of his hands to brush his hair out of his face before getting up, but something cold and solid against his wrist stopped him from doing just that. Realizing that something similar was against the front of his neck, Joker turned his head to either side, seeing that his wrists were bound by metal to either side of his head.  
  
As much as Joker wanted to let fly with a string of swears, the ball gag was still lodged in his mouth. This, he could blame no one but himself on, since he was the one that went out of his way to spit in the face of his twisted imposter before trying to flee.  Such a thought did not make him pleased about what happened afterwards though, especially since his arrogance caught him caught, and he mentally kicked himself hard for it.  
  
He took a few moments to test where exactly he was restrained, feeling metal against his ankles, waist, upper legs and upper arms and neck. Thankfully, none of the bindings were enough to cut off circulation, but it was going to make escape a bit on the tricky side, either way. However, even appearing to be separated from Akira, Joker still lacked the needed strength to break the bindings.  
  
There was also this damned ball gag that kept him quiet to deal with. Taking a deep breath through his nose, Joker tried to chew through the leather on one side of the gag, slowly breaking through tiny bit by tiny bit. After a while, the right side of his jaw hurt far more than before, but he focused himself on his task for the moment and did his best to fight through the pain.  
  
Joker was soon rewarded by the snap of leather and the ability to spit the damned thing far away out of his mouth. "Dammit," he swore to himself as he tried once more to break at least one of his limbs from captivity. "I really did get too cocky for my own good." Taking a deep breath after the pained admittance, he tried to tune out the pain, even with the blood still leaking out of his back. Fortunately, as long as his counterpart remained alive, he wouldn't be able to truly die. The severe blood loss, however, can still leave him beyond able to defend himself if he couldn't get it taken care of somehow.  
  
"...must..." Joker tilted his head slightly at the word, realizing that it was far too distant to have come from anywhere nearby. Closing his eyes to focus better on his hearing, to force his Third Eye to function through a different sense, he tried to recapture the sound of the voice once more. "...heheh, why didn't I think...overwhelm the Bearer of Pride...of Man's Sins..."  
  
"Not liking how this sounds," he muttered to himself before turning his head. "I already know that imposter plans on making Akira somehow destroy his cognition of me somehow." The sounds of footsteps caught his ears and Joker realized who was approaching based off how similar to the sound of his own feet connecting with the ground when he wasn't actively sneaking around in addition to others. "Yaldabaoth," he snarled under his breath.  
  
He couldn't hide the lack of the gag, but he could make it seem like he passed out. And so, as the footsteps approached closer, Joker purposely relaxed every muscle in his body, not allowing himself to react to the pain that still filled him as he continued to focus on using the altered version of his Third Eye to keep sight of everything through audible means.  
  
"...sir, I'm not sure the aphrodisiac will work on the Bearer of Pride," he heard an unfamiliar voice say, which sounded as if the source was facing him. "There's not enough blood left in him to carry it through his entire body."  
  
"Then find whom among the prisoners can heal and force them to heal the Bearer."  
  
"Yes, Holy Yaldabaoth." Footsteps, multiples of them, started running off in different directions, from what he could tell. However, he couldn't hear the footsteps of one walking anywhere.  
  
"Wake up, Pride." Thankful the mask on his face could block from view the tiny fidget that would result from cracking open an eye just enough to see without being seen as awake, Joker caught the yellow-jacket double begin to walk backward, towards another cell behind the fake. "Wake up before further misfortune befalls your true self."  
  
_True...?_ He had to focus, forcing himself to make use of the Third Eye through the sliver of vision he allowed himself to see.  
  
...and what blood remained in him froze upon the red that showed in the cell behind the gold fuck that was blinding him in his altered vision. Red only showed in his vision for one person, not even for himself. Seeing no choice for the moment, Joker fully opened both of his eyes, letting loose a snarl. "Would it kill you to call me by my actual name for once?"  
  
"That is not how I function and I believe you are aware of this fact."  
  
"Also, what sick ploy are you planning on that requires me to have more blood than I do?" Joker's stomach twisted on itself as he saw the sideways grin he personally made famous among the Phantom Thieves, as well as among a small portion of the Japanese police, reflected back towards him by the impostor wearing his face.  
  
"Oh, I'm sure you will find out once ready. Just be prepared for a workout."  
  
_This will not stand._  
  
Joker almost jolted, scanning the cell with his eyes to find the possible source, a strange feeling of familiarity washing over him despite having heard it with another's ears. Unfortunately for him, it seemed that the fake also heard the voice, to which he brought out a double of Joker's black pistol. "Where are you, you damned butterfl---No!"  
  
Joker felt a light fluttering against the skin on his chest before feeling the odd yet familiar sensation of being pulled out of the Metaverse and into reality...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The entire group heard a loud thud followed by an inelegant set of things toppling over on top of each other. Everyone exchanged looks with each other before following the source, all of them gasping in shock upon what they saw.  
  
They all knew Akira was already laying unconscious in a hospital bed, but why did he now look like he was also out here wearing nothing but the black and blue of multiple bruises while having a bleeding gash across his back?  
  
Dr. Takemi took charge while revealing that she had indeed followed them, commanding the group to get her what she needed to stop the flow of blood and return some semblance of dignity to the young man on the floor. Ryuji was the first back with a hospital gown in hand, using it to cover up the unusual double's lower half while keeping it away from the blood. Makoto had gone to get help while a few others got things to wrap up the gash across the middle of his back. The rest helped to pull off the machinations that had fallen over on him, thankfully nothing was heavy or extremely fragile. Once done, with care to not reveal more than needed as the doctor did her best to keep the kid covered, Tae couldn't help but blink at what she saw on the unconscious boy's face.  
  
"...why is he wearing a mask?"  
  
"Isn't Akira still back in..." Yusuke had started to say, finger pointing back in the general direction of the room that they saw Akira located in.  
  
"Yeah, he is, so how...?!" Ryuji started to say, shocked beyond belief, but the mask itself had caused something to click. "Wait, isn't that Joker?"  
  
Makoto finally arrived, a stretcher and a few strong men able to lift the odd doppelganger following after her. "I got here as fast as...Joker?!"  
  
"Not just me this time," Ryuji announced, barely able to keep the grin off his face as he felt vindicated for all the times he got called stupid on something and was probably now the first to catch on. The phones of the Phantom Thieves all went off at once, with Futaba being the first to pull out hers.  
  
"Wait, what?"  
  
<<???:  
Unfortunately, due to a bond the Trickster forged while another pretended to be myself, I wasn't able to free him. However, with Lavenza's help, his rebellious will was able to be released before it could be destroyed.>>  
<<If you haven't taken care of the rebellion already, I would highly do so. It's unknown how the new body will handle being outside of anything similar to the Metaverse, especially with all the wounds that forced to transfer over.>>


	14. Say My Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, past folks that have been reading this may have noticed that I've undone many of the non-character tags. There's a reason for this, mainly because I've been feeling like I've put up too many tags. So, I'm rolling those back for the time being.

Yusuke leaned against the entrance of the room that Joker had been moved to once convinced and proven to the hospital that he and Akira shared the exact same vitals, looking into it and seeing the figure he once thought to be nothing but a self-inflicted mask of cognition Akira would wear into the Palaces in his defense.  
  
"To think that Akira's cognition of him is strong enough to remain stable in the real world," Yusuke mused to himself, the fingers of one hand tapping against the upper arm on the other side.  
  
If he was honest with himself, the Joker he was used to seeing and the one laying unconscious in the hospital bed seemed like completely different people. It hurt to see somene he once fought alongside with in such a state of disrepair, to the point that any blood injected to him had to first be laced with the original's blood to prevent his body's instant rejection of it. Then again, seeing the figure, once hopefully awake, sprang in Yusuke the hope of being able to better understand the human mind, by asking someone in reality that's comprised entirely from it.  
  
The only reason he didn't have a sketchbook out right now to allow himself the sketch of the sleeping Joker was the fact that, while he knew Akira would just look at him wierdly for doing so, he had no idea how Joker would act now that he was seperated from his friend. He consoled with himself, saying that it would be better if the thief was not bound to a hospital bed for such a piece...  
  
...then he saw one of the pale hands twitch. "Joker?"  
  
Black-colored eyelids began to flutter slowly open, a look of disorientation clear on him. _The drugs to halt his pain must be overwhelming,_ Yusuke thought before slowly daring to approach. After a few moments, Joker's eyes flew wide open, the eyelids completely disappearing behind the mask, a look of panic crossing his face from seeing the unfamiliar surroundings. "W-w-whe-where am I?!"  
  
"Joker, calm yourself," Yusuke tried to approach the panicking cognition, seeing as he pulled out roughly the IVs in his arms that dripped both potent painkillers and blood. Compared to when he first landed in the real world, Joker had regained a considerable amount of color, but he was still obviously weakened. "You're in a hospital, you have manifested in the real world!"  
  
Joker froze, about ready to tear out something in a sensative spot within a lower portion of his new body as he slowly turned towards Yusuke. "...Fox?"  
  
It torn up Yusuke to see Joker, the fearless leader of the Phatom Thieves, acting out more like an inexperienced child in a world he had no understanding of than the mature leader he was familiar with. Then again, Yusuke thought to himself, it's very possible that Joker _was_ indeed just that, considering he's never been in the real world before.  
  
Not on his own, at least.  
  
"Joker, you're alright, you were found in bad shape and the do---er, healers were here to make sure you made a full recovery." Yusuke was cautious not to startle Joker any further, steeling himself as he gently pushed back the thief into the bed. If he was being honest with himself, he was tapping into the mentality he wore when in the Metaverse to give Joker something familair to hang onto while outside of it. "You're in no condition to move around just yet, you're still drained of a lot of blood from whatever caused your wound."  
  
"...it's not me that you should be worried about," was the response Joker gave, wincing as his body started to retaliate against his earlier actions. Laying his head back against the pillow behind his head, he glanced down at himself as if his own body turned him into a prisoner of sorts. "Where's Akira?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow at this question.  
  
"Do you know what's wrong with him?"  
  
Joker's steel-grey eyes met with Yusuke's own, making the artist wonder if the eyes of the Thief were actually larger than the original's for a moment. "Before He's willing to accept His defeat, Yadabaoth wants Akira to destroy me himself. With me not being in Akira..." Joker winced as he sat up, taking a few moments to settle his breath as he tried to get used to the skin he was now wearing. "I don't know how I was pulled out...but doing so is basically the same thing as _removing_ Akira's ability to rebel."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"How long have you known the kid, if I may ask?" The Colonel and Dr. Takemi were together in the room with the unconscious Akira. The doctor had been given clearance to aid in taking care of and hopefully trying to awaken the kid as the military woman watched over her, wisely keeping her hands to herself unless specifically asked to get something.  
  
"Long enough, he helped me out with clinical trials for a medication I had been working on."  
  
"...that would explain why you seem to know his body so well." Abigail mused, before a visible shudder shook through the Colonel.  
  
"Are you alright?" Abigail heard ask of her. "That kind of shaking is fairly random," Dr. Takemi remarked, pulling the needle back out of Akira's arm, the vial now empty of its contents.  
  
"Don't mind me, just had a random flashback. I used to think the police back home could get viscious, but at least back in the states, prisoners still had some rights." Colonel Merino glanced down towards the young man. "But in his case, it looked like any and all rights he may have had were given the solid boot out the building. Not the room, the entire damn building."  
  
"...don't remind me. I did not let him do any trials, even though he wanted to, until most of his wounds were healed from that."  
  
"Not surprising." Looking down towards the sleeping kid, she found herself drifting back to a recent memory, the words said still on her mind.  
  
 _"You know you will owe me three answers if I answer these, right?" Akira had spoken with a knowing grin on his face, one that would have worried her if on a superior officer, but would not work on her here._  
  
 _"Fully aware of that factoid. I'm the one that started this, after all." Looking down at the ground for a moment before looking up at the young boy in thought, Abigail raised an eye at him. "Well?"_  
  
 _"Well, what?"_  
  
 _"...you're not going to answer any of them, are you?"_  
  
 _She saw him flash_ a little _teeth into his smirk before responding. "For each_ question _I answer, you have to answer one of my own."_  
  
 _"...why do I feel like this isn't the first time you've done negotiations?" Akira maintained that wicked smile of his, which had the Colonel rolling her eyes. "Fine. The first question to start."_  
  
 _"About the figures that fought against the 'golden figure' as you put it? That was indeed us Phantom Thieves. Now, my question. What were you comparing me to on your computer?"_  
  
 _Damn, sharp eyes, Abigail thought to herself. "Some people recorded when your group hijacked the airwaves to broadcast that one widespread 'calling card' and put it up on the net soon_ afterwards _. I...have a condition that screws over my memory, so having that on hand admittedly had a hand in remembering that day."_  
  
 _That's not all it screws, she thought to herself before continuing. "Alright, second question."_  
  
 _"The name of those two large figures. The golden figure was_ Yadabaoth _, 'God' of Control. The figure behind us, however, was Satanael."_  
  
 _"A demon lord," Abigail ended up asking out of turn with a question in her voice, a raised eyebrow being the only other clue to her shock. A loud cough momentarily had her flashing back to boot camp, prompting a quick apology before she realized what happened and glared at Akira for it._  
  
 _"Now, for my next question. **Why are you interested in myself and Satanael?** "_  
  
 _"...I am actually not allowed to share that answer, even if I wanted to or if it could save several lives. I am sorry."_  
  
"...ino-san! Merino-san!" The doctor was shouting at her, trying to get her attention for whom knows how long. The reason why, however, was obvious to her immediately.  
  
Bruises began forming in seemingly random places, all on their own accord without any form of touch or provocation from either of them.  
  
The other side of his head. A ring of black and brown around his neck. A ring on each of his upper arms as if he was being roughly grabbed and held up by a seperate entity. A bootmark peeking out from underneath the hospital gown that was already black upon forming. Abigail really wasn't wanting to look under the hospital gown to look if other bruises had formed out of view.  
  
"...Dr. Takemi, think we should send...Ryuji, is it? to gather the kids together? I think we're gonna need to have a talk about their friend here..."


	15. Nutty Cat and Loss of Will

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I will admit, I'm starting to lose steam on this. When I start up a story, only one number matters to me on if I should continue something or not and that's the one for the Comments.
> 
> The last few chapters, I have seen not a single comment regarding events in the chapters, and I even put up something to try and inspire conversation. Which is sad, because I often use these to get a judge of what to do for the future, if anyone has come up with something that may wind up breaking the story I'm telling, so that I may account for it.

"TreasuretreasuretreasureTREASURE!"  
  
"Knock it off, you stupid cat!"  
  
Ann and Haru had to rush out of the hospital with the struggling cat in Ann's bag, whom was desperately trying to get out and rush towards the supposed Treasure he caught sniff of. The fact that Mona-chan was even losing his mine outside of either a Palace or Mementos was confusing, causing Haru to glance ahead towards Ann's bag.  
  
The cat within was probably destroying quite a bit of stuff in there in an attempt to get out.  
  
Once they were out of the hospital did Morgana finally calm down, slowly unzipping himself out of the bag before poking his head out. "...what happened?"  
  
"I...am not sure," Haru spoke before Ann could start. "For some reason, after Joker appeared out of nowhere, you started acting as if we were right next to a manifested Treasure."  
  
Morgana gained a confused look on his muzzle before looking towards Haru, one eyebrow raised high above the other. "What? That should be impossible! The removal of a Treasure causes the Palace to collapse, which would mean that Akira should be waking up soon."  
  
"Well..." Haru saw as Morgana was forced to sidestep Ann's hand as she reached into her bag to grab her phone, a purr becoming free from his throat before Haru couldn't help but giggle at Ann lightly bopping him on the head for it. "There was the odd message from...I think Igor was his name?" As Ann spoke, she looked over the past chat messages the group recieved recently. "Something about the 'rules' of something being broken?"  
  
Morgana's shoulders slumped at this. "This is going to make things difficult to deal...!" A lightbulb lit up in Morgana's eyes before he hopped up and down a couple of times. "Wait! Treasure means Palace! Palace means another heist to make!"  
  
"One last show," Haru mused aloud. "But the Meta-Nav hasn't come back, so how are we supposed to get into this new Palace?"  
  
Soon after this question was asked, both of their phones buzzed, prompting them to pick it up and see the newest message from Yusuke in the old Phantom Thieves chatroom.  
  
<<Yusuke:  
Joker's awake. He seems calm around me as long as I act as how I am with my codename, so I would suggest that everyone does the same around him.>>  
<<Seperated from Akira, he seems extremely unfamiliar with anything not from the Metaverse.>>  
  
Haru moved over next to Morgana to allow him to see the text, which caused the cat to tilt his head in response.  
  
"...as bad as this is gonna sound, we may have to keep Joker on a leash of sorts..."  
  
"How about we put one on you, too?!"  
  
Both Haru and Morgana looked up towards Ann at this outburst, though Morgana was the one that wore the wounded expression.  
  
"...me? Leash? W-why?"  
  
Haru looked back down towards Morgana and gave him a petting down his back, causing the cat to melt in place almost instantly. "I'm not sure how that would help, admittedly. But, that reaction alone is unusual, since I don't think Morgana's reacted like this to any Treasure once it's outside of a Palace."  
  
"You're right, he hasn't...hm..."  
  
Haru looked down towards the feline before looking up towards Ann. "Why don't you go meet with Yusuke and see what is happening? I need to make sure the hospital does not unfairly bill Akira's family with Joker's medical expenses."  
  
She watched Ann give Haru a smile. "Yeah, that might be a good idea, one kid in the hospital's probably enough of a strain." And with that, Ann headed towards where Yusuke and Joker were while Haru carried the bag that Morgana hid in towards the nearest reception desk to take care of financial issues a hospital could cause.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Akira wasn't sure when he had blacked out. The last thing he could recall was looking into the yellow eyes of a fake Joker that was slowly turning into differing shades of yellow to differentiate himself from the original.  
  
He did know that he regained consciousness upon that same double letting loose with a shrill cry of pure rage, a rage that found itself turned towards Akira as gold met steel. He felt no need to struggle, even with the restraints on him. _If I'm here, I probably deserve to be._  
  
The false Joker's face changed from a furious look to an increasingly-pleased and preditory one. "Well...maybe Pride's removal isn't so bad. Already, the child's far more humble and pliant," Akira barely heard, a mutter to himself most-likely.  
  
He barely heard the jingle of keys and the banging open of the cell door as he saw the gold-themed Joker walk into the cell, looking down on him with a scheming look. "You understand why you are here...right?"  
  
"...if I'm here, I'm a prisoner," Akira stated with an almost-flat voice.  
  
"And what is done with prisoners?"  
  
"...they are to be punished."  
  
If Akira was in his right mind, he would have noticed the literal fangs that the golden Joker was sporting at the moment. "Very good," was the line spoken to him in a relatively-high pitch. With the wave of a hand over him, the bindings that had kept Akira down disappeared, though he had not moved from his position. The boy couldn't help the muted yelp that tried to escape his throat when the false Joker grabbed him by the throat and threw him hard into the other side of the cell, the unbruised side of his head meeting it first and already forming a new bruise.  
  
"Now...tell me why you are a prisoner," the towering figure sneered, Akira keeping his gaze to the floor, close to boots that were still the same color as the original.  
  
"I...I don't...know..."  
  
"..."  
  
One boot lifted itself before stomping hard on his upper left leg, momentarily reminding him of the interrogation room and netting from Akira an anguished cry of pain. "Yes, you do. Now tell me."  
  
Without ceremony did the gold Joker grab Akira by the upper arms and force him to stand, the grip leaving a bruise on each limb. The grip forced gold and silver to meet for longer than Akira felt comfortable, though he did not struggle against it. The imposter studied him for several seconds before throwing him hard back onto the metal slab, forcing the youth to land on his stomach. "Too humble. Too pliant. Too...empty. Without Pride, the Trickster is locked into himself. It will be no use to do anything to him until the Rebellion is captured once more."  
  
As the duplicate walked to the cell door, chains emerged from the slab, metal rings appearing around Akira's wrists and ankles before pulling him back down into position. One final chain shot out of the slab and forced a metal ring to appear around his neck, pullling him down hard and causing him to black out from the impact of his head meeting metal...


	16. A Snap of Velvet Musings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early chapter is early, but I'm getting my groove back, now that I got past what was slowing me down. Now, let's get to it, shall we?
> 
> I also have made an attempt at formatting for the chat sections as well. Does this help any?

<<Yusuke:  
Joker's awake. He seems calm around me as long as I act as how I am with my codename, so I would suggest that everyone does the same around him.>>  
<<Seperated from Akira, he seems extremely unfamiliar with anything not from the Metaverse.>>  
  
Ryuji gripped the phone in his hand tightly at seeing the messages, looking up from across the hallway towards the two guards and the closed door between them. The only reasons why he wasn't shooed away yet were the fact that the Colonel, after hearing that he was friends with Akira then recieving confirmation from Dr. Takemi about it, allowed him to stay as long as he didn't make himself a nusance.  
  
If it meant he would be the first to get news regarding his friend, he was willing to keep his mouth shut for once, even if he had to bite the insides of his lips to make sure they stayed that way.  
  
The sound of a click from the door ahead of him prompted the former track runner to look up, seeing the door to Akira's room crack open and the foreigner poke her head out. "Ryuji, is it?" Giving a slow nod, though slightly wierded that he was already being referred to by his given name as if she had known him for a while, she waved him into the room.  
  
He had to hold himself back and not literally run into the room to get the first look at his friend any of the Thieves would get.  
  
"...he looks like shit," Ryuji stated with a stunned tone upon seeing the bruising. He almost looked up towards the Colonel with a piercing stare, but that melted as soon as he saw the worried look on both hers and the doctor's face.  
  
"These bruises started forming on their own," Colonel Merino stated, a worried sigh escaping her. "Even though they formed on their own, they all look like brand-new marks of someone that's getting roughed up, and neither of us can figure out why."  
  
"Sakamoto-san," Dr. Takemi said as she addressed him. "Would you be so kind as to gather the rest of your friends?"  
  
Ryuji's eyes were still on Akira, unconcious and covered in bruises he hadn't earned...at least not recently. The gears of his brain were working overtime, trying to figure out how he was going to show the others how Akira was doing...  
  
"...can I at least take a picture of him first? The others are gonna wanna see how he is."  
  
"...this is fair, and this room will only be able to hold one more person in it," Merino remarked before sighing once more. "Fine, take your shot, then see about getting the rest of the group here."  
  
Phone already in hand, Ryuji took only a moment to ready the camera before taking the shot, not wanting to give the foreign chick a chance to change her mind. "Alright, I'll go get the gang together!" Without waiting for further word, Ryuji was already out of the room, ducking into the nearest guy's restroom to get out of view quick incase of a snoopy Colonel.  
  
<<Ryuji:  
Dude, Akira looks like shit.>>  
<<Where is Joker being held at?>>  
  
After waiting a few moments, Ryuji got his response, to which his eyes widened before he groaned. "That's a whole different floor!" Blowing air out his nose, he beelined for the elevator, wanting to rest his leg on the way down before making off with another sprint.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Long fingers tapped the lone wooden desk with the blue-colored room, velvet covering the walls in entirety. The room appeared simple, an office with a green-lit window behind the long man. An empty quill held in a white-gloved hand hovered above the sheet of paper in front of Igor, moving it up and down as the written text on the paper moved in accordance with a simple thought alongside the action.  
  
He thought it was quite ingenious of Lavenza to make it so that he could communicate with the rest of the Phantom Thieves with a medium he was more used to, using a specific sheet of paper and quill to talk with them as a group. It certainly made the prospect of learning more about the technology being used as of the time less of a headache.  
  
It still gave Igor pause knowing that such was advancing faster than he would like, though. Call him old-fashioned, but he preferred the older methods, even if they would prove to be more useful in the long run.  
  
Turning around in a chair the same color as the room, Igor dared to look out the window behind him, his bloodshot eyes focusing on a point in the distance, a statue almost out of even his range of vision. A frown was on his face as he regarded the statue, standing up to get closer to the window as he held his hands together behind him.  
  
"How long has it been," he mused to himself, "both since the Great Seal and Wild Card were formed?" Looking down towards the green clouds around the outside of the Velvet Room, a green hue familiar to a distant memory, the Dark Hour. "Every Wild Card seems blessed with the ability to wield multiple Personas...at the cost of losing any discernable personality of their own the more they use it. A price to pay to be one of the few that can wield many when at one point anyone with the potential to wield a Persona could wield three or four at once."  
  
"I have done as you asked, Master," he heard behind himself, causing Igor to turn his head towards the source, towards Lavenza at the door to enter the Room, a door whose entrance was filled with a contained white light even as it closed. Igor gave a faint smile before returning to his seat, turning it back around so he could face her. "The Rebellion appears to have stabilized in reality and well."  
  
Igor nodded at this statement. "This is good to hear. I originally had reservations about it, but it seems the Trickster has made him well-defined, enough to survive the shift from cognition to reality."  
  
"...may I ask a question, Master?"  
  
Igor raised an eyebrow at his assistant, whom had her arms wrapped around herself in thought. "You may."  
  
"Why did you leave the Trickster so open to manipulation like this?" Igor looked down at this, hands tented while held together in thought.  
  
"...it was a calculated risk. I had hoped that, by rescuing the Rebellion, Yaldabaoth would bore quickly of trying to do anything with the Trickster, at least for now."  
  
Lavenza appeared to have nodded at this answer, her arms uncrossing for the time being. "That does match what I have heard and seen after the removal." Another nod came from Igor he leaned back slightly, pulling back one of the thin drawers to reveal a set of decorated cards. Taking them in hand, he soon closed the drawer before shuffling them, thinking on the future to come before beginning to spread them over the desk in familiar formation.  
  
<<Ryuji:  
Dude, Akira looks like shit.>>  
<<Where is Joker being held at?>>  
  
Igor glanced over towards the sheet of paper as new lines formed near the bottom while pushing up the previous lines. He simply narrowed his eyes at the choice of words, not even bothering to get mad or irritated. "...eloquent," he simply remarked flatly as he move a hand towards one of the now-facedown cards to begin to reveal what may happen...


	17. Knowledge - Rank 0

The Thieves, excluding Akira and Ryuji, were all gathered in the room Joker was laying in, a room that thankfully had more room than their leader's did. Joker couldn't help but look at all of them, studying them as he tried to memorize a new face and name for each person in his team next to the names and faces that he knew and was familiar with. The various things Joker ripped out of himself painfully earlier was inserted back into him, the Thieves needing to explain the purpose to each of them afterwards.  
  
He still felt wierd about the tubes in his lower part of his new anatomy, but he couldn't argue it. Not yet at least.  
  
It was strange how some of the Thieves acted much differently in the Metaverse he was familiar with than they did out here in a world he had no understanding of. He could hear the others talking about subjects he had no idea about, things that happened that he couldn't relate to.  
  
Joker felt out of place. He didn't belong out here and he knew it.  
  
He felt slender fingers over his right forearm that gave him a slight squeeze. It was probably due to the lack of cloth between him and the hand, but Joker jolted slightly before turning towards the source, towards Fox.  
  
"Joker, you seem uneased about something." He suddenly felt all eyes on him, and Joker couldn't help but look down through the mask he wore.  
  
"It's nothing, I'm fine."  
  
Suddenly, he felt another presence approaching him before grabbing his chin and turning his head towards Queen's brownish-red eyes. Joker suppressed the need to gulp at the realization that he just planted a bullseye on himself for her ire upon noticing that her eyes were narrowed at him. "That's what Akira was saying before he eventually collapsed and was brought here. Tell us what's wrong."  
  
It was a few seconds before Queen simply let go of his chin, allowing him the chance to rub the newfound soreness from it. "...I...just don't know what any of you are talking about around me."  
  
Silence fell in the whole room, a silence that was almost instantly broken by the sound of a knock on the door. "Excuse me, coming in!" With the announcement did the door open, revealing someone holding a tray that held various things upon it. She excused herself as she moved to a table next to him that Joker hadn't noticed earlier, playing the tray on it before sliding it over Joker's lap so that he would not need to move. "Enjoy your food," she chirped before bowing slightly and exiting.  
  
Blinking a few times, Joker found himself looking down at what was in front of him. There was three bowls and a plate. One of the bowls had quite a bit of color to it, dark green, white, red, grey and black. Another bowl had a lid upon, upon lifting it revealing a steaming amount of a lot of white little things that seemed to stick slightly to his poking at it with finger. The one plate was small and had something that looked like a round orange orb clearly sliced in half, and the last bowl had what appeared to be...  
  
...actually, he couldn't make out what the last thing was supposed to be after he lifted the lid. There was a lot of brown, and white squares, combined with slices of orange circles and flickers of green throughout it. Staring at all of it in uncertainty, Joker brought up a hand to subconsciously twirl some of the curls in his hair.  
  
"...what am I supposed to do with all of this?"  
  
Joker felt all eyes on him, but he felt the air of stunned shock all around him from them.  
  
"Joker," Noir started, sounding shyer than he would remember her being. "Have you never felt the need to eat?" The blank stare that Joker was giving her seemed to give her the answer she was looking for, prompting her and a few others to shake their heads.  
  
"Joker," he heard before seeing the source pop onto the bed with him, seeing a black cat head poke over the tray and the desk it was on. It took him several seconds to remember that this was Mona in front of him...a very-twitchy Mona that looked like he was ready to pounce onto him like he would a...  
  
That was a thought that forced him to surpress a groan.  
  
"Looks like we're gonna have to teach you how to survive outside of the Metaverse. First things first, you need to eat. Unlike in the Metaverse, hunger is a natural thing, a signal your body uses to tell you that it needs nutrients---"  
  
"...nutrients?"  
  
Mona looked towards Noir and Panther, shaking his head towards them. "Yeah, he can't be trusted alone if he doesn't have developed instincts for out here."  
  
"Hey! I can defend myself," Joker tried to say to defend himself verbally before suddenly feeling all manner of disbelieving eyes on him.  
  
"...Joker, I've been wondering this since you woke up. Do you have any idea of how to survive out here, what you need to do to take care of yourself?" Joker lifted his gaze towards Fox at this question. "Such as knowing when to eat, when to use the restroom, how to clean yourself---"  
  
"You really don't have room to---"  
  
"Futaba, not this time," Fox firmly scolded Oracle, the girl's eyes widening at the snap before the male turned his eyes back onto the supposed leader of their group.  
  
"Um..." Joker looked back down towards the tray in front of him, thinking on that set of questions. He knew how to fight, to defend himself...  
  
But most of that fighting made use of the Personas, which were still locked up against their will. Bringing a hand over his face, Joker found himself pinching the bridge of his nose under the mask, unable to think of an answer that could possibly---  
  
"TREASURE!"  
  
"ACK!"  
  
Next thing Joker knew, he had a cat pounce onto his chest, snuggling fiercely and holding on with the sharpest of claws. "Mona, let go of me!"  
  
"Oh, yeah, Morgana keeps acting like you are some Treasure from a Palace. Why is that?" The question from Panther had Joker shift from the shock he was feeling from getting pounced by Mona to saddened. "...Joker?"  
  
"...I guess you can say that Akira and myself were the two most-prized prisoners in that place."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...a word to the wise, folks, never post up a story unless you have at least a written out timeline for the events you want in it. I think the fact that I have no such guide is starting to show itself in this tale now. Welp, in this other tale I'm scheming, I don't plan on starting to reveal chapters until I have it completely writen it out in entirety...


	18. Mundane Surprises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to write two new chapters since I posted up the last one, so I'm posting a new chapter. I'm getting back into the swing of things and the story coming back together in interesting ways.
> 
> I may have to knock the rating down to Mature at this rate, though...oh, well.

The thieves had a hard time not staring at Joker at his words.  
  
"Prisoners," Noir asked cautiously of him. "Does that mean that Akira's Palace is a...?"  
  
"Not too different from the Prison of Regression, sadly." Joker admitted, eyes still low. Makoto took pity on him and started showing him how to use the eating utensils in front of him, taking a few attempts before the chopsticks felt almost natural in his hands. "...and without me, he probably _is_ regressing."  
  
Probably borrowed some of Akira's muscle memory by accident. It would be his luck, after all.  
  
He kept wincing at the meat, as he heard Makoto call the brown squares, after he would try to put them in his mouth. For some reason, he felt the need to pull the stuff out of his mouth and wipe the stuff off his tongue, it was so repulsive.  
  
"Ugh, where does this stuff _come_ from," Joker grimaced, pushing the plate away from him.  
  
Joker found himself vowing to never eat any form of meat after hearing Makoto's explaination. He wasn't sure why, but while the blood of Shadows never bothered him, living blood seemed to do so greatly, making him want to gag multiple times. He could understand the thrill of ending an existance, he sometimes felt it when dealing with a challenging Shadow, but to consume the remaining corpse afterwards?  
  
 _Ugh. No thanks._  
  
Seeing the plate with the dark green in it, Joker found himself taking small bites out of the salad as Ann pointed out. Unlike with the 'meat', he actually liked the salad, soon moving towards the orange half-sphere, which turned out to be called an orange. The thief now knew where the word came from, at least for the time being.  
  
"Who'd think that Joker here would turn out a vegetarian," he heard Oracle as she poked his side with an elbow, causing him to tense up from the minimal layers of cloth now seperating her and himself.  
  
"I'm kind of shocked. I've seen Akira tear into plates of that alongside me and...damn." Skull didn't seem have words for how he felt about the scene, and Joker was glad he didn't. However, he had to repress yet another gag at the image of Akira and Skull eating so much of that repulsive brown meat, neck and neck with each other in the process.  
  
Then Joker realized that one more person had entered the room, looking up to see Skull's blonde hair. How did he miss the guy coming in? Was he that out of it from being outside of the Metaverse?  
  
"Hello, Skull," Joker greeted, prompting an eyebrow raise from the pirate-souled youth.  
  
"Are you referring to _all_ of us by our code names?"  
  
Joker admittedly saw a mile away the smack that Skull got upside the back of his head, courtesy of Panther. "What did I do," Skull asked with an indignant tone as he rubbed the back of his sore head.  
  
"Did you not read the texts you got? Yusuke even said he was referring to all of us by our codenames!"  
  
"I had only suggested that we act as we would while using our codenames, not that he was referring to us by them," Fox responded, which caused Panther to turn a pretty shade of red that almost matched her outfit in the Metaverse while Skull was staring daggers at her.  
  
"You hit me for no reason this time," he shouted at her, anger clear on his face.  
  
"Skull, Panther, enough." Even in a weakened state, Joker was still able to maintain an authorative tone and aura around himself. The pair seperated from each other, Panther looking irked while Skull looked relieved to be out of swinging range. Once he finished eating what he could handle, he tried reaching up with both hands to stretch.  
  
He felt...sore, too sore, and it showed on his face the discomfort he was not used to feeling. That landing must have been worse than he thought.  
  
"Hey, Ann, did you ever translate what I sent you?" Lowering his arms to either side of himself, Joker looked up towards Oracle, whom was looking towards Panther with a curious look. The lady thief's eyes lit up as she pulled out her phone.  
  
"You mean about what that chick said regarding Akira? Yeah, I did," she declared before her expression shifted to a depressed one. "Though, I don't like how things sounded."  
  
"How things sounded," Joker heard Queen ask, though he didn't look towards her. Instead, he watched as Panther raised her head from looking at her phone to he figured towards Queen.  
  
"I don't believe she chose to be here. I heard threats regarding something called a 'court marshal' and something regarding siblings."  
  
There was a heavy silence Joker didn't understand the purpose of before he heard Queen speak, turning his attention towards her. "Threat of a court-martial means that this particular soldier has likely tried backing out of whatever's happening before."  
  
"What _is_ a 'court-martial'," Skull pointedly asked before hearing a cough from Noir, whom had been mostly silent this whole time.  
  
"A court-martial, in nations that have such, is a military court. Depending on what crimes she is convicted of, a wide variety of punishments could be dealt, ranging from a demotion to death, even being dishonorably-discharged."  
  
"...dishonorably-discharged," Joker parroted in confusion, prompting Noir to turn her eyes towards his.  
  
"Things would have been far worse for her than it was for Akira after such in society."  
  
"...you do realize that when he isn't wearing my mask, I'm not even awake or aware of what's going on, right?"  
  
And once again, he was being stared at by everyone, even Morgana, whom had settled for being a literal purr-machine near one of his legs the whole time. With this, Joker sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before reopening them looking at his fellow thieves. "Hell, I didn't even _exist_ until his awakening in that pervert's Palace," he admittedly before giving a momentary flinch, only one eye closing from it. "Gods, was it painful to stay awake at first..."  
  
Oracle's eyes suddenly lit up as she looked away from the laptop she was working on.  
  
"Hey, he's in a fascimile of a prison, right? Any chance you could get us to where he is?"  
  
Joker just shot her a look with narrowed eyes through his mask. "Even if I wanted to, I can't get back on my own, I was pulled out from the deepest part of the place by an outside force." A frown appeared as his eyes returned to normal. "If I had gotten out on my own, I could have...possibly...led you in myself."  
  
"...so, without the Meta-Nav, we can't get in that way, and Joker can't get us in, how are we supposed to help our leader?!" Joker raised an eyebrow at the thought that Skull didn't seem to consider him their leader, though the mask hid that he was doing this.  
  
Joker heard a collective of buzzes and momentary melodies as the others pulled out devices similar to what Akira would use to leave and enter the Metaverse. Panther moved closer to him and Mona so that he and the feline companion could see what was shown.  
  
<<???:  
Entering may not be the problem.>>  
<<However, leaving until everyone has accomplished their goal would be. The Rebellion had difficulty finding a way to leave on his own.>>  
  
"...would it kill people to _use my goddamned name,_ " Joker groaned at seeing the text, covering his face with his hands as he pushed the mask up from over his eyes in the process.


	19. Done With These Cells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another two chapters typed up, so I'm uploading one now. Things should start to get interesting now, eh?

Morgana's ears perked up, ceasing his purring long enough to speak as he raised his head towards Ann. "Hey, ask Master if he knows how to get into...into Akira's Palace?"  
  
"Good idea," Ann remarked, quickly typing away the question before waiting for the reply.  
  
<<???:  
While my current assistant can move between worlds, bringing others along with her still is a strain on her. So many at once, even if one is native to the Palace, would have her need to rest a while before she could be of further aid.>>  
  
Morgana furled his furry brows at this, thinking on how to do this.  
  
"Hey, before we do this, we need to make sure we find out what Merino-san wants," Ryuji interjected. "I don't think we want her butting in on---"  
  
"On what, if I may ask?"  
  
Morgana saw Ryuji freeze, a look of fear crossing his face as he turned white as a sheet while slowly turning his head towards the door. Morgana traced his spooked gaze to the now-open door, seeing a woman wearing black pants over thin black boots more suited for a snowy winter and a dark-gray turtleneck sweater with a golden necklace that had hanging from it what looked like a dragon of some sort. The amulet seemed a little small for him to really discern much from the distance he was at. Her hair seemed held in a low ponytail and he could see strands of it close to her legs to indicate its length and the cat watched as she pushed up wire-framed glasses.  
  
"Wonder what's got him scared of her," Morgana wondered to himself...  
  
...before suddenly seeing the woman staring right at him with widened eyes behind her glasses.  
  
"One: What's a cat doing in the hospital?  
Two: I think I'm hallucinating again because I thought I just heard that cat talk."  
  
Morgana froze at the question and claim, realizing that someone that wasn't a Phantom Thief could hear him could be bad news. Then he saw her look up, her gaze now focused on Joker before bringing her hands together and pointing both pointer fingers at him.  
  
"And three: How in blue blazes are you here and upstairs at the same time, Akira, and why are you wearing a masquerade mask?"  
  
Before anyone could respond, all of the thieves with phones found their separate devices buzzing and chirping with individual vibrations and melodies, causing them all to pull them out. Like last time, Ann moved so that Joker and Morgana could see the new texts from the mysterious member of their chat group.  
  
<<???:  
It might be wise to allow Strength to be involved in your journey.>>  
  
"Strength," Morgana mused for a moment before widening his eyes. "Wait a second, he didn't refer to any of us by that Arcana when I was talking with him face-to-face last..."  
  
"Wait, huh," was Ryuji's immediate reaction to Morgana's statement.  
  
Ann immediately followed up with one of her own. "What do you mean by 'Arcana'? Like as in the Tarot?"  
  
"Wait, hold the phone, are you actually all responding to this feline?" To everyone's further surprise, she suddenly turned around on her spot, hands raised in the air. "Okay, that's it. I'm done for now. I know what I'm doing when I finally get back to the states."  
  
As Colonel Merino walked back out of the room almost as soon as she entered, the Thieves looked amongst themselves in confusion and concern. Confused about the fact that she seemed to hear Morgana, concerned in the fact that, unlike with Akechi, her reaction seemed to be of a more legitimate freak-out.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Arms crossed in front of his stolen form, Yaldabaoth walked through a part of the Palace he currently resided in, a look of thinking on the face he stole from Akira and Joker.  
  
Since the Joker escaped, he knew there was only a certain amount of time before he had to deal with his remaining prisoner's allies and therefore had to perfect the Palace in time before they did. Problem was...  
  
...without the mortal's realizing it, Akira was subconsciously causing the Palace itself to rebel against him at times. It was more than aggravating, but so far, it was not something he couldn't handle.  
  
Walking up a flight of stairs, Yaldabaoth soon found himself looking up towards the ceiling after seeing a faint green glow upon the stone floor before frowning at the increasing lack of such near the center of the area. "Not again," he muttered as he uncrossed his borrowed limbs, raising both towards the gap that allowed a cloudy green sky to be seen from above. "You're not having your way in this place, Trickster," he grumbled as his gloved hands began to glow, the light soon separating themselves to form myriads of small orbs of light that flew towards the edges of the gaps. "I don't care if I'm using your heart and mind as the core to make it."  
  
The many lights pulled against the edges, forcing them to slowly reclose, though struggle was clear in how the lights would occasionally lose to the slowly disappearing ceiling. A growl escaped him before allowing more of the small lights left his hands to the ceiling, increasing the pace on its closing, though it was slow still.  
  
A faint click became heard nearby, one that sounded as if it was supposed to be unheard. Turning his head slightly towards the sound after the sound, Yaldabaoth raised his curved dagger to block a katana that had made an attempt at him.  
  
"Yoshitsune," the golden figure snarled as he blocked another swing before a third one connected. Thankfully, only one of the three 'tails' of the coat he was wearing was cut, but his golden jacket now had four tails instead of three. "Back in your cell, acursed being."  
  
"Put Satanael back together, cheater," the swordsman spat back towards the false divine as he drew back out both of his blades before daring to make another lunge forward.  
  
Despite only having a single dagger against two katanas, Yaldabaoth managed to duck, weave and block against the Persona's vicious physical strikes, before letting loose a demonic smirk and planting a hard boot against the warrior's stomach, sending Yoshitsune flying backward into an open cell without his blades.  
  
Yaldabaoth was quick to rush forward and shut the cell closed while the warrior was dazed from the impact. The keys in his pocket clicked the lock closed after the one for the cell was inserted and twisted to one direction. Yoshitsune, once he regained his awareness, rushed forward, but soon realized he had no chance to get back out once he saw the blades on the other side of the door and out of his reach. "You should not have done that." Placing a hand on the lock, it began to glow for a moment before the hole that the key would slide into disappeared from view before moving to a section of wall near the door he walked through before this. "Now, to make some changes so that, unless they can hack though something even that hacker won't be able to crack or get the keys off me, there won't be a lock to pick on any of these particular doors..."


	20. Minor Miracle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I am a little amazed I did not even get one comment regarding something a particular Persona stated by the time I posted up this chapter.

As soon as Merino left, Tae found herself falling to her knees beside the unconscious boy's bed, tears falling from her eyes as she crossed her arms in front of her and cried into the covers underneath her face and arms.

"Why, Akira? What happened to you to do this," she rasped before looking up towards looking up towards Akira's pale face.

She caught how his head suddenly jolted back, as if something pulled him back and he hit the back of his head against something. Head rolling to one side, Tae immediately stood up, gently cupping the boy's face with her hands. "I wish I knew how to help you."

Everything around him that could be used to read his varying vital signs shown that he was normal, especially compared to all the tests that she had put him through to work on her medicines. It crossed her mind more than once that maybe those trials had finally caught up to him, but...

...shouldn't that show up in the information on the unlocked computer?

Tae leaned forward, allowing her forehead to lay flat against Akira's, their noses touching slightly, but their lips not yet meeting. The way she was holding him had his jaw slightly open, allowing her to feel his slow and shallow breaths. That combination of breathing was admittedly odd to her, almost an imposibility.

"...you stole my heart," she said more to herself than the young boy below her. "So, it would only seem fair that I steal a kiss." She allowed her lips to touch his, though it was indeed chaste. She pulled away after a few seconds, thankful she did to see the fluttering of eyelashes as his eyes tried with effort to open.

From what Tae could see of his eyes, it looked like he was experiencing a fierce internal struggle, a look she recognized.

She had seen it almost every time before each of the Phantom Thieves' targets were taken down, though she had only finally realized it after they took the radiowaves to both announce Shido's calling card and their leader's, Akira's, survival.

"Tae," was all he managed to breath out before his eyes closed once more.

She stood their in silence as she pulled her head back, thankful that she had been what he saw during his brief moment of wakefulness instead of something else, like the room he was in. Pulling up a chair from nearby, she sat next to him, cradling her hands around one of his in thought as she closed her eyes to recall an early exchange between the pair that happened after one such heist, for young Futaba of all people...

_"Kurusu Akira, I need to know what on **Earth** you are doing to make these medications wear off their effectiveness **that** fast on you." Akira looked up at her like a deer caught in headlights as he sat on the bed in the examination room. Tae herself leaned against the door out of the room, the click of the lock already heard to make it clear that he was not leaving until she got her information. "The only reason **any** should of them should cease effectiveness that fast is if you're taking them **far** more frequently than you should."_

_Instead of giving her a verbal answer, Akira looked down and away from her, a look of guilt on his face._

_"...if you do not answer, our 'deal' will be done, because I will not be able to trust you to not abuse them or give me the information I need to make sure they don't kill you or otherwise harm you," she stated with a tone of firm finality, though she wished she didn't have to. If he **was** becoming addicted to them, she needed to know so she could help him._

_"...we get hurt that often." The whispered words were so soft that she almost completely missed them, but it was a good thing she did catch them._

_"Get hurt how," Tae asked with crossed arms as if she was having to scold a child of her own. "It almost sounds as if these are miracle drugs, like they can heal broken bones and regrow limbs."_

_The lady doctor almost missed him rolling one of his shoulders as he rested a hand_ over _his upper-left arm._

_"It did recently...mend broken bones, that is."_

_She was immediately grabbing his upper-left arm at this, gripping tightly to_ guage _the state of the bone. She could tell that the bone hadn't been set right during healing, that it had been probably causing a lot of pain. Now that she thought about it, he never approached her about it._

_"Are you out of your mind," she ended asking the kid. "How long ago did this arm break?"_

_"...a few days ago."_

_That completely stopped her brain from working for a few seconds, the look of shock and disbelief on her face. "You're telling me how a bone that's been broken heals fully in a few days while I reset this." She held her arms as she readied herself to rebreak the arm. **"That is an order."**_

_When she broke his arm with a snap, Akira cried out in a roar of pain._

_She recalled him trying to explain the Palaces that he and his teammates traversed through after she reset the bone and put it in a cast that only ended up staying on for a single day, only ever referring to them by their codenames when referring to specific members of his team. She had to admit, the physics behind such places was unreal, especially how he said that the arm broke during one of the impacts by the sphinx's large paws, but hearing about them made her think._

_The next time she made him new medications and claimed they should work better than her past ones, the claim that they did work far better than past ones confirmed a theory of hers._

_The belief that the placebo pills interspersed with the actual medications she had actually given him without his knowing were better than her past medications in such places, allowing her to indirectly reduce his dependency on them in such places. It did help that the_ insistance _that they should only be using them while inside these supposed Palaces while using the other lesser-strength_ ones in reality _helped return the effectiveness of the actual medications. The costs for the medications paid, she only kept the actual cost for them while putting aside the rest for when Akira was ready to stop these dangerous escapades in a savings account she created reserved for such an inevitability._

_And, from what she could see, Akira never became the wiser about the wool pulled over his eyes for his own health, which meant she never had to bring up the impending liver failure if he hadn't drastically slowed down with the massive medication consumption._

~~~~~~

Abigail had been full-sprint running back to Akira's room, her back spiking in pain from the exertion as she tried to clear her head of what hallucinations she just ended up randomly enduring.

Only when she was near the room and not yet in the sight of the guards outside of the room, Abigail took a second to stop, calm herself and pull out of the her peeling orange purse three things.

Two were orange pill bottles with english lettering, and the other was a small bottle of soda that had been refilled with water at some point. Opening up the bottle, she poured two pills out of one and one out of the other. Popping all of them into her mouth, she visibly yet silently gagged for a second before tilting her head back and taking many drinks of water to force the medication down.

Only after almost completely killing the water did she finally lower it and twist the lid back onto the impromptu water bottle. Putting everything back into her purse, she pulled out her phone, a black flip phone despite how high-tech the rest of the nation seemed to be, and flipped it open to look at the time.

"...shit, I should have taken the risperidone an hour ago," she muttered to herself before shaking her head. "No wonder I was hearing and seeing things." Leaning back against the wall, she found herself bringing a hand to her back and rubbing it. "And here's hoping the hydrocodone kicks in as well, I shouldn't be doing that kind of shit...hell, I can barely bow..."

After waiting for her lower back to stop crying out in pain, she finally turned the corner to enter the view of the guards that allowed her admittance into the room, seeing Takemi with one of Akira's hands in both of her own. The boy was still unconscious, but Abigail could see that he was at least still breathing.

"...have I missed something," she quietly asked, causing Tae to lift her head towards Abigail.

"No, not really," she quickly stated before standing up, still holding his hand in her own. "I was just thinking." The doctor looked up towards Akira, a sad look on her face. "He regained consciousness for a moment after he suddenly jolted back."

Abigail rose an eyebrow at this as she approached Akira's bed on the opposing side of Dr. Takemi. "Did he managed to say anything before passing back out."

"Only my name...though his eyes..."

Abigail noticed as the doctor's eyes met hers. "They mirrored the nights before he would have the calling cards sent."

"Alright, that's gonna need some explaining," the Colonel remarked before grabbing a chair and finally sitting down.

~~~~~~

Still bound in place within his mind, Akira's eyes opened slowly to look up towards the ceiling. "Tae..."

A flickering of gold ghosted over his eyes as his hands balled up into fists, despite remaining bound and unclothed.


	21. A Moment of Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, I don't have the next chapter finished...and now I will only have a week to get it written up fully and get more chapters written up. x.x Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it.

The little girl with yellow eyes had been running with all the speed she could muster. So far, her disappearance had gone unnoticed by the God of Control, but she wasn't sure for how long this would last and she didn't want to waste time figuring that out.  
  
She had taken advantage of the fact Yoshitsune fought against Yaldabaoth, even if only for a few moments, to make her escape. Thankful her blue and white dress was no longer than it was, long blonde hair flew behind her as she ran, not daring to stop once.  
  
Though she did have to stop when masses of red and black manifested in front of her, forming a quartet of various angelic beings.  
  
"Halt!" One of them declared, the angel with orange skin declared, the only one of them that gave her an inkling of worry.  
  
"You may not be any of the Bearers," spoke the angel with blue skin.  
  
"Or even the Shell of Pride or the Trickster's Heart," spoke the angel with green skin.  
  
"But your escape will not be allowed or tolerated," spoke the angel with pink skin.  
  
"Now, return to your cell or face the consequences." The last angel that spoke, the one with orange skin, she looked up towards while keeping her face calculated and blank.  
  
"Micheal, I would like to say something before I do," she stated before suddenly raising her hands as black spires of darkness rose faster than three of the four angels could move. "Die For Me!"  
  
While Michael managed to use his sword as a shield between himself and the spike that threatened to impale him, his companions were not so fortunate, disappearing into a spray of black and red mist each. "A waste," Micheal growled before slicing the four pillars in front of him. "Uriel, Gabriel, and Raphael will soon re-emerge by his hand and we will all unleash Judgement upon thee, foul child!"  
  
She didn't bother with a response, she just ran, ran as far as she could with the white shoes she wore, dodging the blades as she moved past. The alarms blared out from around her as she felt a rush of wind past her shoulder that almost connected. She barely dodged another of the angel's attacks.  
  
A thud became heard, prompting her to look back as she ran. Somehow, Michael had been slammed into one of the walls between cells by surprise. The only thing she saw to indicate what was a quickly-fading form that appeared entirely the color of light skin minus the crown of black at the top.  
  
Alice, go!  
  
Upon hearing the voice in her mind, Alice looked ahead and continued running with more speed than she should happen, not wholy paying attention to her surroundings as she did. She did not stop running until she entered a circular room with seven cell entrances around her and a wooden desk in front of her. The chair was on her side, indicating that any whom may arrive would appear on the other side.  
  
Alice still recognized the room from her point of creation, especially the blue of the padded walls.  
  
"...the bastard turned the twisted Velvet Room into the entrance of this place?"  
  
While only seeing for a moment a pair of pale arms wrap around her middle, Alice's awareness faded from the room...  
  
...from what she could feel as her awareness faded, it was...peaceful...  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Akira's hand suddenly gripped one of Tae's hands like a vice grip before his eyes shot open, taking in a deep breath like he had just broke the surface of water as he looked around his surroundings with panic, jolting the two in the room with him from the sudden movement.  
  
"...T...Tae...?"  
  
The doctor almost jolted back, his grip holding her firm. "Ak..Akira?"  
  
"Please," he begged, "don-don't let...let go of me." Tears were starting to escape his eyes as the glimmer of fear shown in them. He could barely move and he was unaccustomed to allowing his emotions to show on his face.  
  
But it was only his face that currently escaped pain from moving, even his grip on Tae's hand was creating infernoes of pain within. He couldn't let go, couldn't let her leave.  
  
Not yet, not yet. He would be willing to endure the pain if it meant that he was conscious and out of His control for a little bit longer.  
  
"Akira." This new voice, he felt he should know it, but the name wasn't coming to him. Turning his head slowly, he saw a figure that took him several seconds to recognize.  
  
"...Merino-san?"  
  
"I told you before, outside of school, you don't have to be formal with me."  Akira gulped as he saw the Colonel deflate visibly, the air breathed out of her nose extremely-audible. "The name's Abigail, if you care to remember."  
  
"...is it common to refer to people by their first names in America," Akira couldn't help but ask before shaking his head and looking back towards Tae. If she was here, then maybe...  
  
"Are my friends also here?"  
  
A slight smile appeared on the doctor's face at this. "Yes, even that cat of yours. Morgana, is it?" Akira nodded, causing him to wince from the action as a tear from pain escaped one of his eyes. "Akira?"  
  
As soon as she tries to get Akira to let go of her to better help him, Akira tightens his grip on her, causing the pain to increase and for him to push his head back into his pillow while closing shut his eyes. "Please. Don't let go. I'll fa-fall back if you d-do."  
  
"...I'm gonna have to fetch those kids myself, am I," Abigail grumbled, a look of discomfort on her face.  
  
Glancing towards the militant teacher, Akira carefully raised an eyebrow at this. "Is there something wrong?"  
  
"...I'm just waiting for my meds to kick in before I go back downstairs...though I'm not sure how that's gonna affect if I end up seeing your friends respond to that damned cat on your lookalike's chest or not."  
  
It was then that he saw Tae look up towards her, a shimmer of curiosity in her eyes. "Now that I think about it, the fact that the two have the same exact vitals in addition to apperance is stunning." A little chuckle that Akira found cute was sounded before she added, "It would be amusing to have two of my own little guinea pigs to work with in order to catch minute variances."  
  
"...did this double have a bloody gash on his back and wear a white mask with black around the eyes," Akira dared to ask, hoping to the powers above that the answer to thar question was 'no' or something similar.  
  
At this point, Tae looked towards him in confusion.  
  
"How did you know about all of that?"  
  
For a few moments, the fact that Joker had somehow ended up in reality as a seperate being from him caused his brain to completely stop working. The look that Dr. Takemi was giving him made him also wonder if she heard just how hard his brain hit the brakes.


	22. Forseen Madness

Out of all the cards Igor dealt in front of him, there was one card in particular that he could not take his eyes off for the longest.  
  
His particular Tarot deck was unusual in that the images of the Major Arcana were able to change according to certain 'rules', giving a far clearer image of the future to come than usual. So, it was only partially to his surprise that one particular member of the Major Arcana, the Lovers, did not depict the person currently linked to the Arcana in question, but Joker and Arsene, as if the two were blending seamlessly into one being.  
  
"Will something happen between Arsene and the Tricker's Rebellion," he mused to himself before looking at one of the other cards, Strength.  
  
Displayed as the image was a glasses-wearing woman wearing a blue uniform and white hat fitting of a soldier wearing formal attire with the appearance of a small dark-gray dragon that could almost be mistaken for the same kind black that its eyes were. The only spots of color shown was in the underwings, which were a gold color and the silver leaves that seemed to be the cartoonish dragon's ears. The dragon was perched with forepaws only over the woman's shoulder, a big smile on its muzzle, with a pair of fangs poking out from the upper jaw. However, unlike with other Personas that were depicted in the Major Arcana, when appropriate, there were no sort of blaze around this little dragon that indicated it being such. It also appeared to not be see-through like other such beings. "Strange...it appears to be as solid as its partner." Another oddity he noticed, as he thought of the most-recent group of Persona-users, was the fact that there was no sign of a mask. Instead, a pendant using onyx and citrine to depict the same dragon glowed with the same blue flames that had become linked to the current generation of Personas.  
  
The third card that Igor laid eyes upon made him glad he didn't need to eat, the Devil. It depicted Yaldabaoth's current form, the golden Joker whom only left the colors of the gloves, mask and skin alone. Everything else was some shade of gold with the eyes being the typical Shadow yellow. Holding up one hand overhead, Igor saw the false god holding several chains in the same hand, chains that led off the image and towards several points of the image behind the figure that showed prison cells. A muted snarl left Igor as he narrowed his eyes at the image, wishing that he could actually kill with a glance at that moment.  
  
Bending the rules as far as they could be was one thing, but another to break them entirely.  
  
The last card he looked at before deciding enough was enough was the Fool. Instead of displaying the Trickster, it displayed four figures, himself and Lavenza in addition to two other figures that Igor recognized immediately.  
  
Orpheus behind Lavenza and Izanagi behind himself, the former Personas of past Wild Cards. Igor had never thought that he would have to wield any Persona of his own, let alone one originally partnered up with another, but it seemed as if it may have to happen.  
  
If even the cards before him were foreseeing their direct interferance as needed, then things needed to be dealt with before getting worse.  
  
"...Lavenza, get ready," he simply stated before standing up on his thin legs. "It is time we finally are involved."  
  
"Do you wish me to prepare travel, Master," Lavenza asked before he nodded.  
  
"Bring the Thieves and Strength here, I will prepare the connection between here and...the unusual Palace." His face was stern, the usual gentleness gone for the time being. He heard a gulp as Lavenza bowed before disappearing from view, leaving him alone for the time being.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Abigail was not looking forward to the return trip back to Joker's room, her mind still reeling over both what she was potentially joining back to and what she just left. The kid looked deathly afraid of letting go of Dr. Takemi's hand and it was clearly evident in how her hand was starting to discolor from the grip.  
  
What the hell did Akira awake from to scare him so effectively shitless?  
  
Rubbing her face with her hands, she let out a deep groan that echoed in the halls. "Godsdammit, didn't have in mind any of this shit when I agreed to ask as the homeroom teacher for his class," she grumbled to herself before lowering her hands. "I expected having to break up fights and potential PTSD attacks...in addition to my other 'job', but this...?"  
  
_Ish nawt yu fahwt._  
  
Stopping in her place, Abigail raised her head, looking towards all directions. But the look on her face was not one of confusion...it was of dread.  
  
"If I can hear her, then..." She steeled herself, knowing the other hallucinations that would soon come as the medication tried to reign them in, including the cat being able to talk. "At least I'm braced for it this time," she muttered to herself as she approached the door. Instead of placing a hand on the door handle, she heard talking and so leaned against the wall near the door to better hear what was happening.  
  
"...when I see Akira next, I'm making sure I have my gloves on, so I can remove them and slap him _hard_ with them for that crazy stunt." A strangely familiar groan became heard before continuing on. "To think he risked _both_ our necks with that."  
  
"I find it hard to believe that you were unaware of these events, Joker," another deep voice became heard, almost rivalling the first one heard.  
  
"I was only aware of the fact that I had to stay behind and lure the rest of the Shadows away while the rest of you got away, Fox. I didn't know why, but I somehow knew it was important." A few seconds of of silence was felt before the first voice continued. "Unfortunately, when Akira left the Multiverse that day, I was forced back into slumber until the next time in."  
  
"So you didn't see what happened during the interrogation?"  
  
"I don't even know what an interrogation _is_ , Queen, but I certainly felt all sorts of sore first time into Mementos after the capture in the Casino...I know I was having difficulty putting weight on one hip..."  
  
Abigail raised an eyebrow at this before hearing a slight growl, the same voice that had been speaking. "Who are you behind the door?"  
  
She jolted, careful still to not make noise. The door wasn't open at all and she was careful not to let her shadow be seen below the door, so how in the world was she spotted? Knowing she was not going to get out of this without questioning, she let out a deep sigh and opened the door.  
  
She caught the flicker of gold fading from Joker's eyes as she looked up towards him, which had her wonder if the medication hadn't kicked in yet. However, she knew it had kicked in for one reason.  
  
She heard meowing instead of talking from the feline in the room, though having heard it actually 'speak', she noticed that the meowing matched speech, if only in pitch and cadence. Speaking of...  
  
"You know, I'm pretty certain that, unless Morgana was a service animal, the feline wouldn't be allowed here in the hospital," she stated matter-of-factly, though the tone she had gave away the fact that she did not feel like dealing with chasing out said feline. The cat looked towards all the others, the mirrored sounds of confusion in its small voice as she heard a pattern that easily matched the phrase, "Wait, really?" Haru, however nodded at the feline as if she understood what was being said.  
  
"Yes, some animals are specifically trained so that they may travel with their owners even into areas that animals are not generally allowed to be. However...I've never heard of a cat being registered as such before."  
  
Abigail could have sworn she saw the black feline try to snap with a paw and fail.  
  
"...so..." Abigail slowly started as her brain tried to process what was going on around her. "...apparently, I was hallucinating the cat being able to talk...but not about you folks being able to understand the cat..." Bringing her hands together with the pointers still extended, she soon pointed them towards Joker. "And your lily-white ass seem to be able to see through walls somehow, Mr. 'Golden Eyes', because I actually put in effort into being unnoticed."  
  
Joker pulled his head back to give her an incredulous look. "Last I saw myself in a mirror, my eyes were gray."


End file.
